Ritual scenes in Urartian Glyptic

Resumen

Based on their shape, Urartian seals can be divided into several categories. Those most commonly encountered include cylinder, stamp and stamp-cylinder seals. Present article discusses these categories and attempts to connect some of the more prominent shapes os Urartian seals with a designated function. Thus "faceted" seals seem to have been conected to the priestly office, as they exhibit high quality of  workmanship and display designs of a religious nature. It seems, however, that scenes showing an individual in the process of a ritual action usually involved the figure of the king (who served as the high priest to the gods in a theocratic state like Urartu), and were only depicted on cylinder seals. An exception to this can be seen in a rectangular stamp seal impression from Ayanis, where the king is shown in an attitude of worship. As there are few examples of the latter type of design, any analysis of it must for the moment remain tentative.