Advanced Search 
View 1
Cylinder seal with battle scenes
Greek, East Greek
Early Hellenistic Period
323–250 B.C.
Medium/Technique
Sard
Dimensions
Overall: 4.8 cm (1 7/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Edward Jackson Holmes
Accession Number41.910
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsSeals
DescriptionSard. Pierced cylinder seal engraved in intaglio lengthwise. Upper register: six infantry soldiers with pointy helmets, Galatian shields, and spears over partial groundline urged by a commander at center toward a group of four cavalry men fleeing to left. Inscription in Aramaic above the commander. Lower register: two captured horses held by a soldier at right, and commander chasing two other horses, one of them riderless, galloping to left. Aramaic inscription above captured horses. Chipped at both ends.
ProvenanceMary Anna Palmer Draper (b. 1839 - d. 1914), New York; April 14, 1917, Mary Anna Palmer Draper posthumous sale, American Art Galleries, lot 449. By 1930, Edward Jackson Holmes; April 18, 1930, lent by Edward Jackson Holmes to the MFA (as 114.30); 1941, gift of Edward Jackson Holmes to the MFA. (Accession date: December 11, 1941)