424 LAPIS-LAZULI CYLINDER FROM PALACE SITE

the old Tiamat, with its lion's head and horned projection. Left of this '
the solar symbol of Shamash, then the dragon's head in profile, a lion's masl-
a winged Sphinx and what seems to be a misunderstood version of the ea<H'

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Fig. 350. Early Cylinder of Lapis-lazuli : Development of Designs.

with spread wings of Sumerian tradition here given a human leg. Beyond
this rises an upright animal figure.

The prominence here of the lower zone, the broad treatment of its
designs and their old traditional character, give this cylinder a very early
appearance. This impression, moreover, is confirmed by the lapis-lazuli
material, which becomes already rare by the time of the First Babylonian
Empire.

In the opinion of those most versed in the history of early Mesopo-
tamian Art this cylinder, while fitting on to the ' Syro-Hittite' class, shows
certain early traditions that go back to the days of Sargon of Akkad ana
belong to an epoch somewhat earlier than the Age of Hammuia
, Mr. Sidney Smith, of the Egyptian and Oriental Department of the Britisi
Museum, points out that the transverse band that descends from
shoulder of the Goddess in the lower register in fact answers to a featu
of everyday costume exemplified by many Sumerian monuments, and i
surviving in a divine association. So, too, the curves repeated in the s[ ^
to the left of it, about the Goddess's shoulder, equally answer to the sei
of necklaces worn by Sumerian women.

If we accept Kugler's chronology based on the astronomic evi