8 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.69 



by the horror vacui^ and their art is often exhausted in merely fill- 

 ing the space with the familiar types of deities and emblems with- 

 out much pains to select them. Moreover, to secure pictorial effect, 

 reality is often sacrificed to symmetry. Gods and animals are very 

 often so arranged as to balance each other, and for this purpose a 

 god or other object is often repeated. 



Less than half of the seals have on them inscriptions. They very 

 frequently bear little reference to the figures. In the Kassite period 

 (about 1750-1174 B. C.) the inscription was extended to a short 

 prayer and crowded out the picture, reducing it to a single figure 

 (pis. 20, No. 8, and 14, No. 5). 



