art 243
from regular excavations.174 as a result, the initial situation is extremely
unfavorable for any attempt to identify aramaean seal-cutting workshops.
B. Buchanan and p. r. s. Moorey are the only scholars who have endeav-
ored to systematically classify syro-palestinian stamp seals. they conclude
that, based solely on the seals’ iconography and form, it is impossible to
distinguish between aramaean and neo-hittite (Luwian) groups.175
another approach to defining aramaean glyptic art is based on exam-
ining the motifs on inscribed seals. In their work Corpus of West Semitic
Stamp Seals, n. avigad and B. sass classify 106 seals as aramaic using name
inscriptions as the main criterion.176 a major difficulty is that a person’s
name does not necessarily identify his or her ethnic or cultural identity
(as is demonstrated by the several aramaean rulers of samʾal who had
Luwian names). since only a limited number of seals with aramaic name
inscriptions come from excavations in aramaean cities,177 categorizations
remain hypothetical. a prominent feature of these seals is the prepon-
derance of motifs in the style of the assyrian-Babylonian glyptic art of
the late 9th and 8th centuries B.c. this feature distinguishes them from
phoenician seals and generally also from the seals in hebrew glyptic art.178
representations of worshippers in front of anthropomorphic gods and
divine symbols are especially popular.179 the god most frequently shown
in this context is the anthropomorphic moon-god in a crescent moon,180
while the storm-god is seldom seen in glyptic art.181 Generally speaking,
the moon-god’s popularity on seals reflects his importance in the region of
northern syria—and is consistent with the fact that, under assyrian rule,
many members of the aramaean administrative élite used the moon-god’s
174 concerning the stamp seals found in tell halaf, see von Oppenheim 1962: pls.
27.54–65, 28.66–73 and elsen-novák 2009: figs. 6-1, 6-2. some of these seals bear astral
symbols that are common for north syrian, neo-assyrian, and neo-Babylonian glyptic art,
particularly during the 8th and 7th centuries B.c. (cf. elsen-novák 2009: 65).
175 Buchanan – Moorey 1988: 34.
176 avigad 1997: 280–319 nos. 750–856.
177 aside from the Bar-rakkab seal (see below), these include the impressions of stamp
seals from hamath that show a cow suckling a calf and are reproduced in the work by
avigad (1997: nos. 760 and 768). this motif is quite common in syrian ivory art (see
below).
178 cf. Ornan 1993: 53.
179 e.g., avigad 1997: nos. 751, 754, 759, 763, 767, 777, 779, 782, 783, 789, 795, 802, 803,
805, 806, 814, 816, 822, 825, 826, 835, 838, 845, 848, 849, 850, 855, 856. cf. Ornan 1993:
60–64, nos. 23–54.
180 avigad 1997: nos. 767, 779, 795, 816, 838, 848, 850, 856.
181 avigad 1997: no. 814 and Ornan 1993: 60 no. 27 (standing on his bull and holding
a lightning fork).