Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

[viii] Monuments, reliefs, sculpture and cylinder seals all provide additional information regarding ancient Near Eastern religions [5; 6]. Finest metalwork, shell-engraving and mosaic-work are evident in the grave goods from the royal cemetery at Ur [26]. Monumental stone bas-reliefs decorating Hittite religious centres (1250–1220 bce) indicate the debt they owed to earlier Mesopotamian sources [13: 195–214]. Seal impressions show the characteristics of many deities in the presence of their worshippers. Animals sometimes occur as the cult symbols of deities – a bull for the Hittite weather-god [13: 134], the dragon (see Ancient near eastern religions) as the symbol of Evil [13: 181] and the serpent as an Elamite divinity [17: 38]. Other symbols sometimes replaced the human form: Hittite underworld deities were sometimes represented as swords and the huwasi stone (an inscribed or decorated stele) could replace a god's statue [13: 149]. Gigantic animals perhaps symbolized natural cycles, and semi-divine beings (half human and half plant or animal) probably represented the land's fertility in Elam [17: 37]. ... log in or subscribe to read full text