DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0583
Lightning as a weapon
turned up by the ploughshare in 18821: among these objects was
a small celt of dark serpentine, half-sheathed in gold and fitted
with a hollow cylinder for suspension
(fig. 388)'-. There can be little doubt that
the celt was worn as an amulet in the early
decades of s. v B.C.3
Of special interest are certain examples
that bear incised inscriptions. A magni-
ficent axe-head of brown banded agate,
acquired by Cardinal S.Borgia(i/31 — 1804)
probably from some missionary to the East,
later in the Tyszkiewicz collection, and
now in the American Museum of Natural
History at New York, has cut upon it a
Sumerian inscription in archaic cuneiform
characters (fig. 389)J. The inscription ap-
pears to record the owner of the axe, but
not its dedication to a god. The im-
all probability of a votive character. Its
epigraphy points to a period c. 2000 B.C.5 A celt of serpentine,
1 A. Furtwangler Der Goldfund von Vettersfelde (Winckelmannsfest-Progr. Berlin
xliii) Berlin 1883 pp. 1—52 with cuts in the text and three pls. = «£ Kleine Schriften
Munchen 1912 i. 469—516, pis. 18—20, E. H. Minns Scythians and Greeks Cambridge
1913 PP- 236—239 tigs. 145—148.
- A. Furtwangler Der Goldfund von Vettersfelde p. 10 pi. 1, }, = id. Kleine Schriften
i. 475 pi. 18, 3, C. Blinkenberg op. at. pp. 17 fig. 6 ( = my fig. 388), 108, E. H. Minns
op. cit. pp. 64, 236 (cp. ib. p. 398 11. 11).
3 E. H. Minns op. cit. p. 236.
4 G. F. Kunz ' On the ancient inscribed Sumerian (Babylonian) axe-head for the
Morgan Collection in the American Museum of Natural History,' with translation by
Prof. I. M. Price and discussion by Dr W. H. Ward, in the Bulletin of the American
Museum of Natural History 1905 xxi. 37—47, I. M. Price 'An ancient Babylonian
(Ax-head) Inscription' in The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures
1904—1905 xxi. 173—178 with figs., G. F. Kunz The Curious Lore of Precious Stones
Philadelphia & London 1913 pp. 232—234 with pi. (=my fig. 389), F. Lenormant ' Tie
monumenti caldei ed assiri di collezioni romane' in the Bull. Comm. Arch. Comun. di
Roma 1879 vii. 19—25 pi. 6, 1, E. Cartailhac La France pre~historique Paris 1889 p. 4
fig. 1, G. Maspero The Dawn of'Civilization* London 1901 p. 755 fig.
5 I am indebted for this information to my friend Mr Sidney Smith, who examined
and criticised for me the readings propounded by other Assyriologists. He says: 'The
probable translation is "Had-himil, elder brother of Adad-ili." The first name might
also be read Hattish.' Mr Smith adds that a votive hammer-head of Shudurkib, last king
of the Sargonid dynasty of Akkad, is now in the British Museum and will be published
in Cuneiform Texts Part 36.
H. Zimmern ' Zu den Weihinschriften der Kassiten-Kbnige' in the Zeitschrift fur
Assyriologie 1898 xiii. 302 ff. put together and elucidated the text of an inscription, in
which the Kassite king Nazi-Maruttas dedicates to Bel an axe ' of brilliant lapis-lazuli
'for his life and the welfare of his land.'
turned up by the ploughshare in 18821: among these objects was
a small celt of dark serpentine, half-sheathed in gold and fitted
with a hollow cylinder for suspension
(fig. 388)'-. There can be little doubt that
the celt was worn as an amulet in the early
decades of s. v B.C.3
Of special interest are certain examples
that bear incised inscriptions. A magni-
ficent axe-head of brown banded agate,
acquired by Cardinal S.Borgia(i/31 — 1804)
probably from some missionary to the East,
later in the Tyszkiewicz collection, and
now in the American Museum of Natural
History at New York, has cut upon it a
Sumerian inscription in archaic cuneiform
characters (fig. 389)J. The inscription ap-
pears to record the owner of the axe, but
not its dedication to a god. The im-
all probability of a votive character. Its
epigraphy points to a period c. 2000 B.C.5 A celt of serpentine,
1 A. Furtwangler Der Goldfund von Vettersfelde (Winckelmannsfest-Progr. Berlin
xliii) Berlin 1883 pp. 1—52 with cuts in the text and three pls. = «£ Kleine Schriften
Munchen 1912 i. 469—516, pis. 18—20, E. H. Minns Scythians and Greeks Cambridge
1913 PP- 236—239 tigs. 145—148.
- A. Furtwangler Der Goldfund von Vettersfelde p. 10 pi. 1, }, = id. Kleine Schriften
i. 475 pi. 18, 3, C. Blinkenberg op. at. pp. 17 fig. 6 ( = my fig. 388), 108, E. H. Minns
op. cit. pp. 64, 236 (cp. ib. p. 398 11. 11).
3 E. H. Minns op. cit. p. 236.
4 G. F. Kunz ' On the ancient inscribed Sumerian (Babylonian) axe-head for the
Morgan Collection in the American Museum of Natural History,' with translation by
Prof. I. M. Price and discussion by Dr W. H. Ward, in the Bulletin of the American
Museum of Natural History 1905 xxi. 37—47, I. M. Price 'An ancient Babylonian
(Ax-head) Inscription' in The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures
1904—1905 xxi. 173—178 with figs., G. F. Kunz The Curious Lore of Precious Stones
Philadelphia & London 1913 pp. 232—234 with pi. (=my fig. 389), F. Lenormant ' Tie
monumenti caldei ed assiri di collezioni romane' in the Bull. Comm. Arch. Comun. di
Roma 1879 vii. 19—25 pi. 6, 1, E. Cartailhac La France pre~historique Paris 1889 p. 4
fig. 1, G. Maspero The Dawn of'Civilization* London 1901 p. 755 fig.
5 I am indebted for this information to my friend Mr Sidney Smith, who examined
and criticised for me the readings propounded by other Assyriologists. He says: 'The
probable translation is "Had-himil, elder brother of Adad-ili." The first name might
also be read Hattish.' Mr Smith adds that a votive hammer-head of Shudurkib, last king
of the Sargonid dynasty of Akkad, is now in the British Museum and will be published
in Cuneiform Texts Part 36.
H. Zimmern ' Zu den Weihinschriften der Kassiten-Kbnige' in the Zeitschrift fur
Assyriologie 1898 xiii. 302 ff. put together and elucidated the text of an inscription, in
which the Kassite king Nazi-Maruttas dedicates to Bel an axe ' of brilliant lapis-lazuli
'for his life and the welfare of his land.'