A Snake Goddess and Her Companions a Problem in the Iconography of the Early Second Millennium B.C.

Abstract

A Snake goddess accompanied by a winged acrobatic figure is alone shown (Plate I a ) in repeated cylinder seal impressions on a tablet dated year 9 of the reign of Warad-Sin of Larsa, 1826 B.C. by the middle chronology, 34 years before the first year of Hammurabi of Babylon. Though the tablet originated at Larsa it seemed that the seal with its lovely but mysterious couple must be of Syrian origin. So far as can be discerned in the impressions they are rendered with a grace and delicacy that at least equal the best Old Babylonian work. Hair extended behind the head as on both of them finds its closest contemporary comparisons in hair styles common in Syrian work (Plate I b ). In the latter, however, the effect is of definite shaping whereas here the hair looks almost wind-blown. Acrobats too occur quite often in Syrian glyptic, but not apparently in the pose of ours. To this we must return.