Deities with a dual character on Ancient Near East cylinder seals

In this paper I discuss five imprints of cylinder seals depicting deities with a dual character:
they are servant as well as queen, father as well as mother, and one of them is the god of the
constellation Gemini.

Number 1
Iskhara Iskhara

There are three people on this imprint:

1. A woman who wears a headpiece decorated with a pair of horns,
2. A man who wears a headpiece without horns
3. And a woman who sits on a throne and wears a headpiece with three pairs of horns.
The man in the middle is probably the owner of the seal and humans generally have no horns
on their headgear.
But the two women are one and the same, namely Iskhara. She is a scorpion goddess and on
the imprint she is identified by the two scorpions next to her.
She is depicted on the left as a servant, because in March she follows the sun and she is only
visible in the evening when the sun has set.
But she is a queen in June, because then she goes ahead of the sun and she is visible before
the sun rises.
Because the scorpion goddess changes from being a constellation visible in the evening into
a constellation visible in the morning she looks at two directions: as a servant she looks from
left to right and as a queen she looks from right to left.
Besides that, the direction of the scorpions also changed: the first one looks up, whereas the
second scorpion looks down.
By the way, this imprint shows that differences in status is symbolized by the headgear:
1. The owner of the seal, probably a priest of the scorpion goddess, does not wear horns.
2. Iskhara following the sun god like a servant wears one pair of horns
3. But, when she like a queen precedes the sun then she wears three pairs of horns.
See also: ‘The reason why a goddess is depicted upside down on an Ancient Near East cylinder seal’:
https://www.academia.edu/6634510/The_reason_why_a_goddess_is_depicted_upside_down_on_an_Ancient_Near_East_cylinder_seal
 Number 2

On this imprint is a man has two heads, one of them looks at a mermaid and the other one
looks at a woman who takes a man by the hand.
According to the inscription this two-headed man is the sun god Utu and the mermaid as
well as the guiding woman are his wife Aya.
According to me the ‘story’ of this imprint goes as follows: in June Utu and Aya celebrate a
Holy Marriage and the sun god becomes the father a child, undoubtedly the owner of the
seal.
This child is born in February/March in the constellation Anunitum, which means ‘godly fish
wife’, (Now Aya is depicted as a mermaid).
mulA.NU.TI.TUM [a-nu-ni-tum] (= Anunitum= godly fish wife) (NE Pisces (+ middle part of
Andromeda)).) A-nu-ti-tum
The two balls explicitly indicate that this mermaid is the sun god's wife, because these balls
together form number 20, and 20 is the symbol of the sun god.
When this child has grown up, Aya, now depicted as a human, takes him to his father who
has to determine the life destiny of his son.
So we see that the sun god and his wife both have two functions:
1. In the first place they give life to the owner of the seal.
2. And in this second place they give him a destiny.
 Number 3
Leo Bow Sirius Corvus Taurus Gemini
Usimu
On this print we see another god with two heads. This two headed god is usually called
Usimu or Isimud.
On this print various constellations are shown through which the sun goes through in the
spring. It follows that Usimu is the god of the zodiac sign Gemini.
(It is also possible that Usimu is the god of the New Moon, when the sun and the moon are
‘united’.)
More about this seal, see: The secrets of the famous Adda seal:
https://translate.google.nl/?hl=nl#view=home&op=translate&sl=nl&tl=en&text=het%20verhaal%20gaat%20als%20volgt

Number 4

On this print we see a double headed eagle with two naked youngsters.
The two youngsters are one and the same person, namely the owner of the seal.
He is depicted two times because Ashur gives him life twice, namely the moment he is
conceived and the moment he is born.
And thus the two heads of the eagle show that Ashur has a dual nature, he begets the owner
of the seal like a father and gives him life as a mother during his birth.

More about deities giving life their children, see: ‘An introduction to sphinxes depicted on seals’:
https://www.academia.edu/10155711/An_introduction_to_sphinxes_depicted_on_seals
 Number 5

This print shows two cows with three heads: the cow on the left seems male, while the cow
on the right could be feminine.
I think that two times the three heads are the heads of the sun god, the moon god and the
Sirius goddess:
1. On the left the three-headed but may engender a child, the owner of the seal, in June
2. And on the right the three-headed cow goddess give birth to this child in April.

Tom van Bakel

10-10-2019
Sint Pancras
Netherlands
Email: tom.vanbakel@xs4all.nl
Number 1
British Museum number122563
Description: Greenish grey chlorite cylinder seal; a goddess who wears a long striped robe and has
a long curl of hair down her back, raises her left hand. She stands behind a bearded worshipper who
wears a cap and a long, fringed skirt and who pours libation on an altar before a seated goddess
who wears a fringed robe, has a long curl of hair down her back beneath a multiple-horned head-
dress and who raises her right hand. In the field, two scorpions, one of them inverted, cut in rather
different styles.
Culture/period: Akkadian
Date2400BC-2200BC
Excavated/Findspot: South Iraq, Royal Cemetery Ur
Materials: chlorite
Dimensions: Height: 2.2 centimetres, Diameter: 1.25 centimetres
Number 2
A. 231. Présentation à un génie dicéphale, imberbe, court vêtu, les mains serrées à la ceinture. La
déesse introductrice est vêtue du châle à rayures vertiddes orné d'une bordure; un bracelet entoure
son poignet droit. Le client est imberbe et sa chevelure
y est courte. Dans le champ, cercopithèque, vase et bâton de mesure. La légende:
aSamas (dieu)Shamash,
dA-a (déesse) Aya.
p est gravée au-dessous d'un être fantastique formé
d'un buste huipain uni à un corps
Number 3
British Museum number: 89115
Title: The Adda Seal
Description: A hunting god (full-face) has a bow and an arrow (?) over his shoulder; a quiver with
tassel attached hangs on his back. On the left-hand mountain stands a small tree and Ishtar (full-
face) who is winged and armed with weapons including an axe and a mace rising from her
shoulders. She is holding a bush-like object, probably a bunch of dates, above the sun-god's head.
The sun-god Shamash with rays, holding a serrated blade, is just beginning to emerge from between
two square topped mountains. The water god Ea stands to the right with one foot placed on the right-
hand mountain. He stretches out his right hand towards an eagle, probably the Zu bird who stole the
tablets of destiny. A couchant bull lies between his legs and streams of water and fish flow from his
shoulders. Behind him stands his two-faced attendant god Usimu with his right hand raised. All wear
the multiple-horned head-dresses of deities. The male figures are bearded and Usimu has a double
beard and wears a flounced skirt. Ea and Ishtar both wear flounced robes and the fourth complete
figure wears a striped skirt which either has a cod-piece or is hitched up in front. This god wears his
hair in a long curl down the left side, reminiscent of those worn by bull-men and Ishtar has two
similar curls hanging down, one on either side, while Ea and Shamash wear their hair in a triple
bun. The scales of the mountain are continued in a horizontal band all-round the lower part of the
seal and it is on this band that the figures are standing. There is a two-line inscription in a frame and
below it a lion is pacing towards the right and roaring. The cylinder is slightly concave in shape.
Culture/period: Akkadian
Date: 2300BC
Find spot/Acquired: Sippar (?) (South Iraq, Sippar)
Materials: greenstone
Dimensions: Height: 3.9 centimetres, Diameter: 2.55 centimetres, Height: 1.5 centimetres,
Diameter: 1 inches
Inscription Transliteration: ad-da/dub-sar.
Number 4
Syria
Hematite
13 x 6,5
A naked figure half kneels on each side of a double headed eagle.
Ca.1850-1720 BC.
Published: Ancient Near Eastern Cylinder Seals from the Marcopoli Collection by Beatrice
Teissier. no 551
Number 5
Fig 6 (No.8). Kneeling bull with three heads and a striding triple-headed bull with a dubble serpent
tail. Heulandite cylinder seal: 40 x 23 mm.
Iran, Proto-Elamite period (c. 3100-2900 BC). Lent by Mr and Mrs Jonathan P. Rosen, New York.
Lack of a suspension hole indicates an Iranian origin.