Abstract

Abstract. The early second-millennium BCE old Assyrian seals impress from Kultepe in the collection of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts carries an image of great interest that has not been previously recognized. This is a battle of a hero with a serpent-like demonic character. The rarity of snake-fighting images in the extant Middle Eastern material determines the importance of studying this object, especially since it is one of the few Kultepe seals with an image which does not recur on the other seals from the region. The article analyzes the composition and subject of the seal along with the parallels to their elements found in the Near East material, explores the depicted scene in the context of relevant snakefighting myths and motifs in order to establish the relations (Anatolian, Syrian, Mesopotamian) of its subject, taking into consideration that Kultepe was a centre of interaction and synthesis of the traditions of Anatolia, Lower Mesopotamia and the Syrian-Upper Mesopotamian region. The closest iconographic parallels to the serpent on the seal are revealed in the serpent on the East Anatolian Late Hittite relief from Malatia whose appearance is further interpreted by the authors, and the alleged interpretation of some details of the seal scene finds correspondences with Syro-Anatolian motifs. A wide range of snake-fighting motifs in the relevant Near East traditions is used to determine the relations of the subject in question.