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Which mythological subjects appeared on Sumerian cylinder seals?
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Mesopotamian art and architecture
Ziggurat at Ur (modern Tall al-Muqayyar, Iraq), constructed c. 2100 bce.
Sumerian cylinder seals frequently featured complex imagery derived from Sumerian mythology and religious ritual.1
Common mythological subjects depicted on these seals include:
- Conflict scenes: These often portray struggles between wild beasts and protecting demigods or hybrid figures.1
- Epic associations: Some of these conflict scenes are associated by scholars with the Sumerian epic of Gilgamesh.1
- Ritual scenes and divine figures: Beginning in the Protoliterate period, seals often featured ritual scenes and representations of divine figures, which may have been copied from monumental wall paintings that have since been lost.2
While some periods, such as the first Early Dynastic period, favored brocade patterns or files of running animals, mythical scenes remained a prominent and highly skilled adaptation of linear design in Sumerian art.1