Gods holding ax and facing Hittite king(?) who holds hieroglyph and curved staff

between 1350 B.C. and 1250 B.C.
layer of silver on sheet of copper
22 x 9 mm
Morgan Seal 909
Provenance: 
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes: 

"A Hittite origin is indicated in the case of 909, not only by the hieroglyphs placed in the field but also by the appearance of the central figure, who probably is a king, since he carries a staff or rod curved at the end (referred to by archaeologists as the lituus), which is the characteristic insignia of Hittite kings. Furthermore, the figure in 909 parallels in attire and attribute--a winged sun disk over his head--the king in the rock reliefs of Yazilikaya. Since the latter have been ascribed by Bittel to the period from 1350 to 1250 B.C., a like dating is suggested for 909. The fact that the piece is made of metal, a material rarely used for cylinder seals, has given rise to some suspicion concerning its genuineness. However, numbers of Hittite stamp seals are made of metal, and the use of it in this cylinder indicates merely that the Hittite workman employed the material and tolling with which he was familiar. ... Ward notes of this seal that it 'is said to have been brought with a number of other antiquities from Haifa in Syria' (American journal of archaeology, IX, 1894, 361),". Porada, CANES, p. 115-116

Summary: 

God holding ax and facing Hittite king(?) who holds hieroglyph in one hand, curved staff in other, with winged sun disk above his head, bird near his shoulder -- Attendant(?) holding indefinable object -- Star and Hittite hieroglyphs in field.

Classification: 
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