Mesopotamian cylinder seal with divine audience scene

Neues Museum

Cylinder seal with divine audience scene

Material: Clay impression from a stone cylinder seal

Date: After originals dating to the 2nd and 1st millennium BCE

Origin: Mesopotamia

Collection: Vorderasiatisches Museum (Museum for the Near East), Berlin

This clay impression reproduces the image from an ancient Mesopotamian cylinder seal, showing a divine audience scene typical of early administrative and religious art. At the center, a seated deity—identified by a horned headdress—receives a standing figure, possibly a priest, worshipper, or royal envoy presenting an offering or gesture of reverence. The eight-pointed star symbol, often associated with the goddess Ishtar, appears above, emphasizing celestial or divine authority.

Flanking the central figures are vertical columns of cuneiform script, recording either the seal owner’s name or an invocation to a deity. Such seals served as both personal signatures and ritual emblems, embedding identity, devotion, and cosmic symbolism into everyday transactions.

Museum label reference:

Cylinder seal impressions depicting Gods and celestial symbols After originals dating to the 2nd and 1st millennium BC Mesopotamia Vorderasiatisches Museum (Museum for the Near East), Inv. VAG-TOP 1535.1626.1648.1945

The constellation of the spring full Moon and the Pleiades was used to identify leap days. It is represented on cylindrical seals and is described in a cuneiform script. If the moon stands at Pleiades on the 1st or 2nd of Nisānu, it will be a normal year. However, if the Moon stands only on the 3rd of Nisānu at the Pleiades, it will be a leap year.

Supplementary images:

Cylinder seal impression depicting a divine audience scene with cuneiform inscription, Mesopotamia

Taken on Tuesday 06th of August 2019

Device: Google

Model: Pixel 3 XL

Genre: 2nd and 1st Millennium BC

Source: Berlin, Germany

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