The haematite cylinder seal in the Bibliotheque Nationale with which this article deals is well documented, for it was brought from the Near East to France by M. Cousin6ry in 1817; in 1845 it was acquired for the national collection from the Collection F61ix Lajard into which it had passed. This information is important because it guarantees the genuineness of the seal which measures ht. 27 mm., diam. 11 mm. (Fig. 1)1.
The scene represented on it is composed of three figures only. An unbearded personage clad in a robe and a mantle with rolled borders, whose head is covered with a thick crop of short hair, advances to right with both hands extended in a gesture of supplication. This figure is preceded by that of a man wearing a mantle with rolled borders above a short tunic and a high, conical head-dress, the royal crown of a Syrian ruler of that period. On his left forearm folded across his body he supports his right arm with hand raised in reverent salutation to the female divinity before whom he stands. She also is attired in a robe and mantle, and has on her head a high, cylindrical horned head-dress. She stands facing her worshippers, and holds up a little handleless cup or bowl in her right hand. Her cylindrical head-gear, the style of the engraving, and the fact that the borders of the garments of all the figures are rolled and not fringed like those worn by figures represented on Syrian seals of the First Group, demonstrate that the seal is engraved in the style characteristic of the Second Group of Syrian seals.
There is nothing strange about these figures or the actions they perform in a scene of homage to a divinity, or about the two 'ankh symbols, one of which is inserted on each side of the foremost worshipper. The remaining details show a greater divergence from the norm. The upper