KH.17.O.448

KH.17.O.448

This is the only seal actually associated with the large deposit of discarded, impressed sealings found below the floor of the so-called Seal-house in area C East (for which see under Cat. nos. 3-4, 14). Of it, quite exceptionally, we also possess an impression (KH.17.O.671) on a sealing applied to a small container, thus showing that the seal was actually one of those involved in the control of the (sealed) goods of the storeroom. The inscribed cylinder is outstanding, both for its dimensions and for the quality of its engraving, which belongs to a court workshop most likely based at Karkemish itself. The scene features a standing Storm-god, who can be identified as such by the horned high cap – horns being a symbol of divinity – and by the thunderbolt held in his left hand (which is, as customary, tripartite but actually here more W-shaped, as in the hieroglyphic logogram for the god’s name, L199 TONITRUS, Tarhunna in Hittite, Tarhunza in Luwian, Teshub in Hurrian, Hadad in North-west Semitic). The right hand holds a mace against the shoulder and a dagger is suspended to his short kilt, while the shoes with upturned toes are a typical Hittite rendering. In front of the god, the Great King - wearing a hairy (which usually is plain, instead, but see the contemporary royal seal in Waal 2026: fig. 33.3) skull cap and a long, tasseled robe - extends his right arm in a prayer’s gesture with an ‘ankh life symbol above his hand and with the left holds the curved staff of his high office known in Hittite texts as kalmuš, while a winged sun disk hovering above confirms the visual identification for this personage assimilated to the Sun-god (who is actually the emperor and not the king of Karkemish, see Aro 2022: 516-518, figs. 11.3b,5a; Beyer 2001: 341-347, figs. 60-61). A guilloche frames the visual field on both edges, with the lines of the cuneiform legend serving as scene divider. Some fillers are placed behind the sovereign: they are not actual writing although they must represent a landscape of symbolic meaning, even if their connective interpretation remains elusive. Some of them are in fact well known motives, such as the (here much stylized and repeated twice, another one appears next to the emperor’s right hand) ‘ankh life-symbol (L440-441 VITA; Herbordt 2006: 104, fig. 12) as well as the rosette, which is often associated with royalty in imperial Hittite glyptic (cf. Dinçol and Dinçol 2008: pls. 6.56b, 7.66b); on the other hand, the bird of prey, a falcon or an eagle rendered in fine detail, does not seem a hint to the goddess Kubaba because her logogram does not have the outstretched wing (cf. L130 AVIS3), while the X may be the sign for 100 (L399 CENTUM). Overall, they must evoke well-wishing and/or an idea of strength in relation to the Great King. The inscription, both in cuneiform and Anatolian hieroglyphs, gives the name and profession of the owner. The hieroglyphs of the name form the sequence su (L370)-L392-li (L278), while in cuneiform it is written as mŠu-na-DINGIR-LÌ, thus ensuring a reading of the name as Sunaili (Peker 2023a: 131 sub 19, fig.19). In the Karkemish seal, he bears - but only in hieroglyphic writing - the title AULA (L254) “loyal man/loyal nobleman” and his profession is indicated with the sign MAGUS/MEDICUS (L135.2), to be translated as “physician”. It has been suggested (Dinçol and Dinçol 2008: 68) that the latter sign is a depiction of a snake: in fact, if one examines the MAGUS/MEDICUS (L135.2) sign intently on this perfectly carved and preserved seal, the depiction supports the idea that, with its blunt muzzle and horn like protrusions, it looks more like a snake than a bird (which somehow suggests a possible, fascinating connection with the snake rod of the Greek healing god Asclepius).

Karkemish

C East

Phase A

F.8867

"Seal House"

Late Bronze IIB

diam. 1.45; h. 3.75 cm