CHAPTER LXV. 
SUSIAN CYLINDERS. 
After the rest of this book was entirely written there came to my hand volumes 
vii and vit of de Morgan’s “Mémoires” of the “Délégation en Perse,” which 
give us our first real knowledge of the character of the Susian seal cylinders. M. 
de Morgan hesitates to put any definite date on the cylinders that resulted from 
his excavations; and the fact that none of them contain any writing, with the excep- 
tion of one with Egyptian hieroglyphics, makes it difficult to fix a date. They 
are usually rude and show us animals of the country in various postures and some 
equally rude human figures. They seem to have little relation to the Babylonian 
cylinders and, in fact, are usually of a different material, a fine white clay, enameled 
after the Egyptian fashion. The four or five which are purely Babylonian, with 
figures of Gilgamesh and his companions, may be dismissed as probably not of 
Susian workmanship. Some of the more characteristic are here given. 

1217 

7500 
In fig. 1217 we have two lions arranged with their tails crossing in a loop. 
This latter feature is exaggerated in fig. 1218, so as to resemble the arrangement 
of the two serpents in fig. 95. In fig. 1219 the bull is probably the bison, the 
horn being drawn at right angles to the head to show its shape. In fig. 1220 we 
seem to have both the bison and a bull like the aurochs. ‘The cross fixes this cylinder 
as of probably the Kassite period. In fig. 1221 we have bulls kneeling before a 
columnar altar under a winged disk, which again shows that the seal is not archaic. 
The playful character of the art appears in fig. 1222, where we see two animals, 
a bull (?) and a lion, each in a boat and holding an oar. 
In fig. 1223 we see the wild goat, set in a curious ornamented border. On one 
cylinder, fig. 1224, the deer is figured, which we see only rarely on cylinders from 
Babylonia. On one very large cylinder, however, we have what seems to be a deer 
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