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Cylinder Seal with the Persian King Grasping Two Lions (impression matched to art)

Unknownabout 500 B.C.

The J. Paul Getty Museum

The J. Paul Getty Museum
Los Angeles, United States

Cylinder seals, which had been used for millennia in Mesopotamia and Iran, continued to be made in the Achaemenid Persian period (550-330 BC), but they are rare in Lydia. This example, however, is engraved in the precise style typical of the pyramidal Lydian-Achaemenid workshop. It shows the common motif of the Persian king grasping two lions, with the winged solar disk representing the Iranian god Ahura Mazda above, as well as a personal symbol of Lydian type.

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  • Title: Cylinder Seal with the Persian King Grasping Two Lions (impression matched to art)
  • Creator: Unknown
  • Date Created: about 500 B.C.
  • Location Created: Asia Minor, Achaemenid (Persian Empire)
  • External Link: Find out more about this object on the Museum website.
  • Medium: Blue-grey chalcedony
  • Culture: Achaemenid (Persian)
  • Accession Number: 81.AN.76.85
The J. Paul Getty Museum

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