Glyptic imagery as social identity : the Ziššawiš seals

This lesson, as well as the two that followed, examined in detail certain trustees as well as certain seals in particular. The themes guiding the discussions are the ideological and social ramifications of these remarkable images. The lesson focuses on the two seals used by a high-ranking administrator, Ziššawiš, Deputy Director of the Fortifications Archive. We focus on a very close reading of the images on these two seals, in a highly traditional iconographic analysis in many respects, and then attempt to understand the social significance of the images borne by these seals.