Mirrored signs. Administrative and scriptorial information in the Indus Civilization clay sealings (original) (raw)
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--Metalwork. Anthropomorph Indus Script Hypertext on Proto-Elamite clay tablet. Breath-taking video on Mohenjo-daro ziggurat Researchers at Oxford University hope new technology and crowdsourcing on the Internet will help them decipher the world's oldest writing system that still remains a mystery. The ancient writing from what is now southwest Iran, called proto-Elamite, was used during the Bronze Age between 3200 BC and 2900 BC but has defied academics who long ago found the Rosetta Stone to understand Egyptian hieroglyphics and other ancient languages. Although proto-Elamite was borrowed from neighboring Mesopotamia, its scribes devised their own symbols that have made it all but undecipherable for millennia.But now, according to BBC News, scholars believe they have the tools to make significant headway."I think we are finally on the point of making a breakthrough," Jacob Dahl, a fellow in the Oriental Studies department at Oxford University, told the BBC. "It's an unknown, uncharted territory of human history."Dahl and other researchers at Oxford have spent more than a decade studying the right-to-left writing on clay tablets. So far, they have deciphered 1,200 symbols but that merely scratches the surface. Basic words such as "cattle" remain unknown, the BBC adds. So the scholars have turned to a device known as a Reflectance Transformation Imaging System(RTI). Developed by a team of international developers, RTI uses light to capture photos of every groove on a clay tablet to produce super-sharp images.Dahl's team shipped an RTI machine to the Louvre museum in Paris, home to the world's largest trove of proto-Elamite tablets, and exposed the tablets to them. The high-resolution images will be put online to allow academics around the world to crowdsource a translation, ideally within two years.The ancient writing has proven particularly maddening to scholars, Dahl says, because it appears to be full of mistakes that have made deciphering them all the more difficult. There also have been no bilingual texts to use for comparison nor any lists of symbols or primers to use as a reference. In addition, scholars don't know how the language was spoken and thus lack phonetic clues that might have helped their work.Yet the writing system is hugely important to experts in ancient languages because it was the first to use syllables and represents the first recorded example of one people adopting writing from another people nearby. https://www.facebook.com/pg/WBorsboom/posts/?ref=page\_internal https://www.facebook.com/AntiquitiesArchaeologyDepartmentSindh/videos/175860933085039/ (Video: 6:21) Restoration work of Mohenjo-daro -- Antiquities and Archaeology Department Sindh June 20, 2018 See the difference Department has taken wonderful action and made Mohen Jo Daro clean, repaired the broken pieces of walls. Close-up images of Mohenjo-daro ziggurat, temple (so-called Stupa mound) merges with the brickwork of the archaeological site exemplified by the Great bath. Transition from Indus Valley Culture script to Proto-Elamite cuneiform...!!! Could this be a start of Rosetta Stone like decipherment?! Apparently some Proto-Elamite decipherment and translation is available... @Suzanne Redalia. . "Indus Valley gold, chiefly in jewellery, is very rare. It seems that gold was not readily available, and was not wasted, as in the case of burial goods, although this is different at Baluchistan sites. Most gold pieces use the metal very sparingly. In this example, the beads are hollow, and in the pendant, thin gold lies over an organic core. The pendant is in the form of a Indus River reed boat. All told, the necklace is about 43 cm in length and weighs only about 18 g." -- eclectic.com https://www.scribd.com/document/386387506/Indus-Administrative-Technologies-New-data-and-novel-interpretations-on-the-Indus-stamp-seals-and-their-impressions-on-clay-Dennys-Frenez-2017 https://www.academia.edu/35354756/Indus\_Administrative\_Technologies.\_New\_data\_and\_novel\_interpretations\_on\_the\_Indus\_stamp\_seals\_and\_their\_impressions\_on\_clay Indus river boat. Shown on a seal, Mohenjo-daro. Mohenjo-daro. Sailing vessel depicted on a stone stamp seal (after Potts 1995: Fig. 1)
Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 2010
That "writing" and "script" are appropriate terms to employ in reference to what has commonly been called the "Indus script" has been contested by Fanner, Sproat and Witzel (2004). They argue that the Indus script is not likely to have been linked directly to a spoken language and was probably a system of non-linguistic symbols. We, however, contend that given the development in the system of inscriptions over time as seen at Harappa and given the extensive use of the "signs" or "symbols" both fonnally and infonnally and on many media (see text discussion), making the distinction between a language-based script and a not-so-tied-to-Ianguage symboling system is not a particularly interesting distinction. In any event, in the absence of multilingual texts, long texts, and/or a successor symboling system or script, there can be no widely accepted understanding of what the symbols or signs of the "Indus script" actually meant to those who employed them, and thus there can be no true resolution of tIus issue. As a result, we continue to employ tenns like "script" and even "writing" in their broadest senses and are well aware that not everyone may agree with such usage. We are also rather imprecise in our use of the tenns "inscribed" and "inscription", which we employ broadly in relation to the Indus script and not in the restricted sense of something engraved, incised, or written. Thus pieces with script in relief are also referred to as inscribed (although not "incised"). Finally the tenn "tablet" is used in the sense employed in all volumes of the Corpus of Indus Signs and Inscriptions to refer to small inscribed pieces specially made of stone, terracotta, faience, or copper-with images and/or script incised or in relief-that are not intaglio seals. 2 The Harappa Archaeological Research Project (HARP), a long-tenn program of investigations into the origins and character ofIndus urban centers, was first initiated at Harappa by the late Prof. George F. Dales and Dr.
2010
That "writing" and "script" are appropriate terms to employ in reference to what has commonly been called the "Indus script" has been contested by Fanner, Sproat and Witzel (2004). They argue that the Indus script is not likely to have been linked directly to a spoken language and was probably a system of non-linguistic symbols. We, however, contend that given the development in the system of inscriptions over time as seen at Harappa and given the extensive use of the "signs" or "symbols" both fonnally and infonnally and on many media (see text discussion), making the distinction between a language-based script and a not-so-tied-to-Ianguage symboling system is not a particularly interesting distinction. In any event, in the absence of multilingual texts, long texts, and/or a successor symboling system or script, there can be no widely accepted understanding of what the symbols or signs of the "Indus script" actually meant to those who employed them, and thus there can be no true resolution of tIus issue. As a result, we continue to employ tenns like "script" and even "writing" in their broadest senses and are well aware that not everyone may agree with such usage. We are also rather imprecise in our use of the tenns "inscribed" and "inscription", which we employ broadly in relation to the Indus script and not in the restricted sense of something engraved, incised, or written. Thus pieces with script in relief are also referred to as inscribed (although not "incised"). Finally the tenn "tablet" is used in the sense employed in all volumes of the Corpus of Indus Signs and Inscriptions to refer to small inscribed pieces specially made of stone, terracotta, faience, or copper-with images and/or script incised or in relief-that are not intaglio seals. 2 The Harappa Archaeological Research Project (HARP), a long-tenn program of investigations into the origins and character ofIndus urban centers, was first initiated at Harappa by the late Prof. George F. Dales and Dr.
Two sets of evidences interccltural transactions with Meluhha (Sarasvati Civilization) presented by Maurizio Tosi and JM Kenoyer, link with the decipherment of Indus Script and bronze age revolution spearheaded by Sarasvati Civilization of Ancient India. Cylinder seals made of shell from Susa and ANE discussed in this monograph, are signature tunes of turbinella pyrum shell available only from the coastline of India, indicating that seafaring merchants and artisans of Meluhha were engaged in Bronce Age Tin-Bronze Revolution barter trade with Ancient Near East.. 1. Maurizio Tosi reported a remarkable Susa pot in Louvre Museum containing bronze metalware. Clay storage pot discovered in Susa (Acropole mound), ca. 2500-2400 BCE (h. 20 ¼ in. or 51 cm). Musee du Louvre. Sb 2723 bis (vers 2450 avant J.C.) Below the rim of the Susa storage pot, the contents are described in Sarasvati Script hieroglyphs/hypertexts: 1. Flowing water; 2. fish with fin; 3. aquatic bird tied to a rope Rebus readings of these hieroglyphs/hypertexts signify metal implements from the Meluhha mint. The hieroglyphs and Meluhha rebus readings on this pot from Meluhha are: 1. kāṇḍa 'water' rebus: khāṇḍā 'metal equipment'; 2. aya, ayo 'fish' rebus: aya 'iron' ayas 'metal alloy'; khambhaṛā 'fish fin' rebus: kammaṭ a 'mint, coiner, coinage' 3. करड m. a sort of duck -- f. a partic. kind of bird ; S. karaṛa -ḍhī˜gu m. a very large aquatic bird (CDIAL 2787) karaṇḍa‘duck’ (Samskrtam) rebus: karaḍā 'hard alloy'; PLUS 4. meṛh 'rope tying to post, pillar’ rebus meḍ‘iron’ med ‘copper’ (Slavic) Alternative: pōlaḍu, 'black drongo',rebus: pōlaḍ, 'steel'. (Note: the contents of the Susa pot should be subjected to archaeometallurgical analyses to detail the mineral contents of the metalware). See: Eureka moment. Like the storage pot described by Mortimer Wheeler in a Mohenjo-daro marketplace, Indus Script Hypertexts on Susa storage pot from Meluhha describe contents: metalware https://tinyurl.com/yd64r2at 2. JM Kenoyer has reported evidence of turbinella pyrum wide bangle and two cylinder seals from Susa. Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, 2008, Indus and Mesopotamian Trade Networks: new insights from shell and carnelian artifacts, in: E.Olijdam & RH Spoor (eds.), Intercultural relations between south and southwest Asia in commemoration of ECL During Caspers (1934-1996), BAR International Series 1826 (2008): 19-28 https://tinyurl.com/ujtwdqp Royal game board , found by Leonard Woolley in the Royal Cemetery at Ur, southern Iraq, about 2600-2400 BC. inlay of shell, red limestone and lapis lazuli Alamy - Image ID: EX70R3 Wealth is signified by the animals shown on another gaming board. On the cover Expedition, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Special Issue: Ur), UPenn Museum: Gaming board of shell and lapis lazuli from RT. 580 in the Royal Cemetery, now in the University Museum.Collection Object Number: B16742 Mesopotamian cylinder seals and Tell Asmar cylinder seal presented by Frankfort (Annex) indicate the animals as wealth resource (read rebus in Indus Script Cipher). A warrior, ca. 2500 B.C. with helmet, battle-axe and sickle-sword; a small plaque of engraved shell from the ancient city of Mari on the Euphrates (Musee National de Louvre, Paris) The image created on the shell plaque is that of a Meluhha artisan carrying bronze tools. Cylinder (white shell) seal impression; Ur, Mesopotamia (IM 8028); white shell. height 1.7 cm., dia. 0.9 cm.; cf. Gadd, PBA 18 (1932), pp. 7-8, pl. I, no.7; Mitchell 1986: 280-1, no.8 and fig. 112; Parpola, 1994, p. 181; fish vertically in front of and horizontally above a unicorn; trefoil design Photo by William Clough Hieroglyphs of Indus Script: fish: aya 'fish' rebus: aya 'iron' ayas 'alloy metal' kuThi 'tree' rebus: kuThi 'smelter, workshop or manufactory'.; One-horned young bull: khonda 'young bull' rebus: konda 'furnace' kunda 'fine gold' singhin 'spiny horned' rebus; singi 'ornament gold'. The sprout behind the young bull: pajhaṛ = to sprout from a root (Santali); Rebus: pasra 'smithy, forge' (Santali) Alternative: mogge 'sprout, bud' Rebus: mū̃h 'ingot' ã̄gru sprout, rebus: aṅgar 'carbon element (to carburize metal to harden it'.koḍa 'sprout'.rebus: koḍa 'workshop'. karibha, ibha 'elephant' rebus: karba, ib 'iron' karA 'crocodile' rebus: khAr 'blacksmith' gaṇḍa 'rhinoceros'; rebus:khaṇḍa 'tools'. Imported Indian seal from Tell Asmar. "The Indus civilization used the signet, but knew the cylinder seal. Whether the five tall ivory cylinders [4] tentatively explained as seals in Sir John Marshall's work were used for that purpose remains uncertain. They have nothing in common with the seal cylinders of the Near East. In the upper layers of Mohenjo Daro, however, three cylinder seals were found [2,3]. The published specimen shows two animals with birds upon their backs [2], a snake and a small conventional tree. It is an inferior piece of work which displays none of the characteristics of the finely engraved stamp-seals which are so distinctive a feature of early Indian remains. Another cylinder of glazed steatite was discovered at Tell Asmar in Iraq, but here the peculiarities of design, as well as the subject, show such close resemblances to seals from the Indus valley that its Indian origin is certain [3]. The elephant, rhinoceros and crocodile (gharial), foreign to Babylonia, were obviously carved by an artist to whom they were familiar, as appears from the faithful rendering of the skin of the rhinoceros (closely resembling the plate-armour) and the sloping back and bulbous forehead of the elephant. Certain other peculiarities of style connect the seal as definitely with the Indus civilisation as if it actually bore the signs of the Indus script. Such is the convention by which the feet of the elephant are rendered and the network of lines, in other Indian seals mostly confined to the ears, but extending here over the whole of his head and trunk. The setting of the ears of the rhinoceros on two little stems is also a feature connecting this cylinder with the Indus valley seals." (H. Frankfort, Cylinder Seals, Macmillan and Co., 1939, p. 304-305.) "Mari Cylinder seal, ca. 2200 B.C.E., shell with copper alloy caps, National Museum, Damascus. Two types of seals were common in the ancient Near East: stamp seals and cylinder seals. Stamp seals were used to secure correspondence or establish ownership with an embossed pad of clay called a bulla. Stamp seals were often inscribed with the owner’s name or symbol. The rope knot securing hides or cloth or other product would be covered with wet clay, and the seal would be pressed into the clay.Cylinder seals were used to roll an impression onto a two-dimensional surface, generally a damp clay cuneiform document or envelope. Cylinder seals were invented around 3500 BC in the Near East in south-western Iran and Uruk in southern Mesopotamia. This seal is from Mari and shows a bearded god sitting on mountain. Two tree goddesses are flanking this central figure at same height or importance.Cylinder seals and stamp seals were integral part of daily life in ancient Mesopotamia and were used by everyone, from kings to slaves, in the transaction of business and sending correspondence." https://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/tools/image-gallery/m/mari-cylinder-seal Hieroglyph: dhanga 'mountain range' Rebus: dhangar 'blacksmith' मेढ 'Polar star' Rebus: mẽṛhẽt, meḍ 'iron' (Ho.Munda); medhā, 'yajña, wealth, dhanam'. Shell bangle from Susa (After Jarrige 1988:48 Louvre Sb14473, Fouilles de J. de Morgan) Meluhha rebus reading signifying the professional competence of the wearer: karã̄ n. pl. wristlets, bangles Rebus: khār 'blacksmith, ironsmith' Shell cylinder seals from Ur. 1) Shell cylinder seal found with groom in Puabi’s tomb (PG 800), height 31 mm, dia. 16 mm. B 16747 (U.10530); 2) Shell cylinder seal found near skeleton (PG 1054), height 34 mm, dia. 16 mm, 30-12-8 (U.11528) (After Zettler & Horne, 1998). arye 'lion' (Akkadian) rebus: arA 'brass' melh 'goat' rebus: milakkhu 'copper'.dula 'pair' rebus: dul 'metal casting'.
Book Review: Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions. Volume 3.3 Indo-Iranian Borderlands
Iranian Journal of Archaeological Studies (IJAS), 2022
The book under review is the fifth volume of the series ‘Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions’ and the first one dealing with artefacts not from the Indus valley but from the territory of the Indo-Iranian borderland. In the preface to the book Asko Parpola explains why non-Indus seals and other small objects are published in a series about Indus seals and inscriptions. The author’s intension is to supplement the corpus of Indus inscriptions with foremost geometric seals that predated the Indus civilization and were also found in the Indus valley. Some of the signs or symbols that can occasionally be found on the objects from the Indo-Iranian borderlands are the forerunners of the Indus script. Thus, the book appears to be an important contribution to the study of the origin of Indus writing and seal production.
2015
This paper presents a detailed analysis of the iconography carved on a cylinder seal found in a metallurgical site within the archaeological complex of Konar Sandal South, near Jiroft, in the Halil river valley of the Kerman province, south-eastern Iran. This seal is made of a whitish marble and – even if heavily worn by use – it retains traces of different animal figures. These animals represent the translation into local style of a rare but characteristic iconography found in the seal production of the Indus Civilization. The merging into a single seal of different animals, some of which clearly belong to the standard animal series of the Indus seals, might have provided the owner with a special authority that allowed him/her to hold different administrative functions. Moreover, the discovery at Konar Sandal South of a cylinder seal bearing an Indus-related iconography might further testify to the direct interest of Indus merchants and probably craftsmen in trade exchanges with a major early urban site in south-eastern Iran.
This is an addendum to: Sealings of Sarasvati-Sindhu Civilization are Indus Script inscriptions, deciphered cargoes of lapidary-, metal-work repertoire https://tinyurl.com/sfkf5gb This note demonstrates the function of Indus Script to document maritime trade transactions by creating a technical bill of lading cataloguing the products which constituted the cargo for trade/export. Meaning, artha on two seals L-6 and L-37 and related clay sealings: Trade (and metalwork wealth production) of kōnda sangara 'metalwork engraver'... PLUS (wealth categories cited.).
manasataramgini @blog_supplement Seals from Afg of BMAC complex with motif shared with Ahar-Banas chalcolithic Thanks for these exquisite images of seals (called compartmentalised seals) from BMAC. Following notes point to the essential similarity between Ahar-Banas artifacts and the finds from other sites of Sarasvati-Sindhu civilization. In particular, the seal showing a + shaped fire-altar may be explained as a Vedi. Similar hieroglyphs occur on Indus Script Corpora, for example the following: Kot Diji type seals with concentric circles from (a,b) Taraqai Qila (Trq-2 &3, after CISI 2: 414), (c,d) Harappa(H-638 after CISI 2: 304, H-1535 after CISI 3.1:211), and (e) Mohenjo-daro (M-1259, aftr CISI 2: 158). (From Fig. 7 Parpola, 2013). Distribution of geometrical seals in Greater Indus Valley during the early and *Mature Harappan periods (c. 3000 - 2000 BCE). After Uesugi 2011, Development of the Inter-regional interaction system in the Indus valley and beyond: a hypothetical view towards the formation of the urban society' in: Cultural relations between the Indus and the Iranian plateau during the 3rd millennium BCE, ed. Toshiki Osada & Michael Witzel. Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora 7. Pp. 359-380. Cambridge, MA: Dept of Sanskrit and Indian Studies, Harvard University: fig.7. I suggest that the 'dotted circle' signifies on Indus Script corpora: ḍāv ʻdice-throwʼ Rebus: dhāu 'ore'.See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/11/evolution-of-brahmi-script-syllables.html?view=sidebar Evolution of Brahmi script syllables ḍha-, dha- from Indus Script. Ur cylinder seal, Harappa tablet with 5 svastika deciphered. Evolution of Brahmi script syllables ḍha-, dha- traced from Indus Script hieroglyph dotted circle, dām 'rope (single strand or string?)', dã̄u ʻtyingʼ, ḍāv m. ʻdice-throwʼ rebus: dhāu 'ore' Brahmi script syllables ḍha-, dha- are derived from Indus Script hieroglyphs: dhāv 'string, dotted circle' rebus: dhāu'ore' Button seal. Harappa. Fired steatite button seal with four concentric circle designs discovered at Harappa. Sibri cylinder seal with Indus writing hieroglyphs: notches, zebu, tiger, scorpion?. Each dot on the corner of the + glyph and the short numeral strokes on a cylinder seal of Sibri, may denote a notch: खांडा [ khāṇḍā ] m A jag, notch, or indentation (as upon the edge of a tool or weapon). (Marathi) Rebus: khāṇḍā ‘tools, pots and pans, metal-ware’. m0352 cdef The + glyph of Sibri evidence is comparable to the large-sized 'dot', dotted circles and + glyph shown on this Mohenjo-daro seal m0352 with dotted circles repeated on 5 sides A to F. Mohenjo-daro Seal m0352 shows dotted circles in the four corners of a fire-altar and at the centre of the altar together with four raised 'bun' ingot-type rounded features. Rebus readings of m0352 hieroglyphs: dhātu 'layer, strand'; dhāv 'strand, string' Rebus: dhāu, dhātu 'ore' 1. Round dot like a blob -- . Glyph: raised large-sized dot -- (gōṭī ‘round pebble);goTa 'laterite (ferrite ore) 2. Dotted circle khaṇḍa ‘A piece, bit, fragment, portion’; kandi ‘bead’; 3. A + shaped structure where the glyphs 1 and 2 are infixed. The + shaped structure is kaṇḍ ‘a fire-altar’ (which is associated with glyphs 1 and 2).. Rebus readings are: 1. khoṭ m. ʻalloyʼgoTa 'laterite (ferrite ore); 2. khaṇḍā ‘tools, pots and pans and metal-ware’; 3. kaṇḍ ‘furnace, fire-altar, consecrated fire’. Four ‘round spot’; glyphs around the ‘dotted circle’ in the center of the composition: gōṭī ‘round pebble; Rebus 1: goTa 'laterite (ferrite ore); Rebus 2:L. khoṭf ʻalloy, impurityʼ, °ṭā ʻalloyedʼ, awāṇ. khoṭā ʻforgedʼ; P. khoṭ m. ʻbase, alloyʼ M.khoṭā ʻalloyedʼ (CDIAL 3931) Rebus 3: kōṭhī ] f (कोष्ट S) A granary, garner, storehouse, warehouse, treasury, factory, bank. khoṭā ʻalloyedʼ metal is produced from kaṇḍ ‘furnace, fire-altar’ yielding khaṇḍā ‘tools, pots and pans and metal-ware’. This word khaṇḍā is denoted by the dotted circles. eraka 'wing' Rebus: eraka 'moltencast' garuDa 'eagle' Rebus: karaDa 'hard alloy'; garuDa 'gold' (Samskritam) Hieroglyph: eruvai 'eagle'; synonym: गरुड 'eagle' eraka 'wing'. Rebus: eruvai 'copper' (Tamil. Malayalam)+ करडा [ karaḍā ] Hard from alloy--iron, silver &c. eraka 'moltencast' See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/06/suparna-garuda-eagle-meluhha-hieroglyph.html?view=classic Harappa seal h166A, h166B. Vats, 1940, Excavations in Harappa, Vol. II, Calcutta: Pl. XCI. 255
Indus Script hieroglyphs on Ancient Near East cylinder seals signify Bronze Age metalwork
Thanks to Tom van Bakel for focussing attention on the Darius cylinder seal impression. I suggest that the narratives signified on some cylinder seals of Ancient Near East contain Indus Script hieroglyphs which provide a rebus layer of orthographic metaphors related to metalwork heralding the Bronze Age Revolution. For example, the two palm trees shown on a Mohenjo-daro prism tablet (as a metalwork catalogue) also signify unambiguous hieroglyphs on some ANE cylinder seals (including the cylinder seal of Darius). This Mohenjo-daro prism tablet signifies on Side A a pair of palm trees flanking two oxhide ingots. It has been suggested that the hieroglyphs on all three sides of the tablet are read rebus to signify a metalwork catalogue of cargo carried on the boat (bagala?). Side A; tALa 'palm trees' rebus: DhALa 'large ingot (oxhide)' karaDa 'aquatic bird' rebus: karaDa 'hard alloy' Side B: ayo, aya 'fish' rebus: aya 'iron' ayas 'metal' PLUS karA 'crocodile' rebus: khAr 'blacksmith', thus aya-kara 'metalsmith' Side C: from l.to r. Part 1: karaNika 'spread legs' rebus: karNI 'supercargo' kanka, karNaka 'rim of jar' rebus: karNI 'supercargo, script, engraver' dula 'pair' rebus: dul 'metal casting' muh 'ingot' khANDA 'notch' rebus:kaNDa 'implements' Part 2: kanka, karNaka 'rim of jar' reebus: karNI 'supecargo, script, engrave' ayo, aya 'fish' PLUS khambhaṛā 'fish-fin' rebus: kammaTa 'mint' kolom 'three' rebus: kolimi 'smithy.forge' muh 'ingot' PLUS kolmo 'rice plant' rebus: kolimi 'smithy/forge'. Thus, the inscription on the three sides signifies mint, metalwork, hard alloys,metalcastings ingots, metal implements from smithy/forge. Hieroglyph: tamar 'palm' (Hebrew). Rebus: tamba 'copper' (Santali) tamra id .(Samskrtam) The repeat of the hieroglyphs of two palm trees on Darius cylinder seal is significant beyond description of a 'lion-hunting' scene as a tribute to the valour of the royalty. It is possible that the hieroglyphs on the cylinder seal impression of Darius also signify metalwork catalogues read rebus in the Indus Script tradition. arye 'lion' (Akkadian) Rebus: arA 'brass'. kāmaṭhiyo bowman; an archer(Gujarati.Samskritam) Rebus: kampaṭṭam 'coiner,mint' (Tamil) kammaṭa, kammaṭi (Malayalam. Kannada). tALa 'palm trees' rebus: DhALa 'oxhide large ingot' PLUS dula 'pair' rebus: dul 'metalcasting' winged Ahura Mazda: kambha 'wing' rebus: kampaTTa 'mint' PLUS medha 'yajna' Fruit of the date palm, Phoenix Dactilyfera See: http://data.kew.org/cgi-bin/vpfg1992/genlist.pl?PALMAE http://www.pacsoa.org.au/palms/ on Genera in the family, palmae Borassus Aethiopum Mart. http://www.westafricanplants.senckenberg.de/root/index.php?page\_id=14&id=214 Borassus flabelliformis in Karainagar, Sri Lanka. Asian Palmyra palm/Lontar palm/Doub palm (southern Asia from India to Indonesia) Palakkad District of Kerala State is popularly known as land of Palmyra trees (കരിമ്പനകളുടെ നാട് ). The main entrance of Angkor Wat to the temple proper, seen from the eastern end of the Nāga causeway and Asian Palmyra palm *tāḍa3 ʻ fan -- palm ʼ, tāḍī -- 2 f. in tāḍī -- puṭa -- ʻ palm -- leaf ʼ Kād., tāla -- 2 m. ʻ Borassus flabelliformis ʼ Mn., tālī -- , °lakī -- f. ʻ palm -- wine ʼ W. [Cf. hintāla -- ] Pa. tāla -- m. ʻ fan -- palm ʼ, Pk. tāḍa -- , tāla -- , tala -- m., tāḍī -- , tālī -- f., K. tāl m., P. tāṛ m., N. tār (tāṛ ← H.), A. tāl, B. tāṛ, Or. tāṛa, tāṛi, tāḷa, Bi. tār, tāṛ, OAw. tāra, H. G. tāṛ m., M. tāḍ m., Si. tala. -- Gy. gr. taró m., tarí f. ʻ rum ʼ, rum. tari ʻ brandy ʼ, pal. tar ʻ date -- spirit ʼ; S. tāṛī f. ʻ juice of the palmyra ʼ; P. tāṛī ʻ the fermented juice ʼ; N. tāṛī ʻ id., yeast ʼ (← H.); A. tāri ʻ the fermented juice ʼ, B. Or.tāṛi, Bi. tārī, tāṛī, Bhoj. tāṛī; H. tāṛī f. ʻ the juice, the fermented juice ʼ; G. tāṛī f. ʻ the juice ʼ, M. tāḍī f. <-> X hintāla -- q.v. tālavr̥nta -- ; *madatāḍikā -- . Addenda: tāḍa -- 3: S.kcch. tāṛ m. ʻ palm tree ʼ. tālavr̥nta n. ʻ palm -- leaf fan ʼ MBh., °aka -- n. lex. [*tāḍa -- 3, vr̥nta -- 1] Pa. tālavaṇṭa -- , ta° m. ʻ fan ʼ, Pk. tālaveṁṭa -- , °voṁṭa -- , tāliaṁṭa -- , talaveṁṭa -- , °viṁṭa -- n.; Si. talväṭa ʻ palmyra fan ʼ.(CDIAL 5750, 5802) Ta. kara-tāḷam palmyra palm. Ka. kara-tāḷa fan-palm, Corypha umbraculifera Lin. Tu. karatāḷa cadjan. Te. (B.) kara-tāḷamu the small-leaved palm tree. (DEDR 1270)Ka. tār̤ palmyra or toddy palm, Borassus flabelliformis. Tu. tāri, tāḷi id. Te. tāḍu, (inscr., Inscr.2) tār̤u id.; tāṭi of or belonging to the palmyra tree; tāṭi ceṭṭu palmyra tree; tāṭ-āku palmleaf. Kol. (Kin.)tāṭi māk palmyra tree. Nk. tāṛ māk/śeṭṭ toddy palm. Nk. (Ch.) tāṛ id. Pa. tāṛ id. Ga. (S.3) tāṭi palmyra palm. Go. (G. Ma. Ko.) tāṛ, (S.) tāṛi, (A.) tāḍi toddy palm; (SR.) tādī kal palm liquor (Voc. 1709). Konḍa ṭāṛ maran, ṭāṭi maran palmyra tree. Pe. tāṛ mar toddy palm. Kuwi (Su.) tāṭi mārnu, (S.) tāti id. Kur. tāṛ palm tree. Malt. tálmi Borassus flabelliformis. / Cf. Skt. tāla-, Pkt. tāḍa-, tāla-; Turner, CDIAL, no. 5750 (some of the Dr. items may be < IA).(DEDR 3180) Darius cylinder seal and impression with Old Persian, Elamite and Babylonian cuneiform inscription Cylinder seal impression • Height: 3.7 centimetres Diameter: 1.7 centimetres Weight: 21 grammes • • Inscription Language Elamite • Inscription Translation I [am] Darius, the king. • • Inscription Comment Trilingual cuneiform inscription in Old Persian, Elamite and Babylonian. (The word 'great' appears only in Babylonian) • . • Darius reigned: 521-486 BCE "Chalcedony / prase cylinder seal: streaked, green to grey-brown, clouded carved scene shows chariot, lions, symbol, tree and inscription; a royal personage (Darius I) facing right, stands at the back of a chariot, with his torso presented frontally; he has a long pointed beard, striated across the cheek and vertically down the chin and chest, his hair, in diagonal lines, is in a full-page boy style at the nape of the neck, he wears a dentate crown with four well-defined points set on wide circlet decorated with a band of dots, and is dressed in the full-length formal robe (only the top half of the garment is visible), with pendant sleeves folded back from the arms and hands to leave them free to aim his bow, which ends in a curved bird-head. The charioteer stands before the king, leans forward and guides the two horses; his short pointed beard and shoulder-length hair are striated, he wears a diadem with central boss and his upper garment is a cape with a double line border. The waist high sides of the two-wheeled chariot are covered by three narrow crossed (possibly cruciform) panels or straps, a rounded handle-like, looped projection protrudes from the upper end of the back, against which the king leans, while at the front is a notched, curved pole-brace; the wheel is eight-spoked with a thick, studded rim; the pole links chariot to the yoke. The two horses (the heads are shown as double, but only one body is depicted) gallop with forelegs stretched out and bent slightly downwards, their harnesses are decorated with large tassels, the penis is shown and the tail hangs down but appears to be knotted at the tip. The king has shot two arrows into the eye and front paw of a confronting, rampant and snarling lion; its heavy mane is marked by a cross-hatched pattern ending in a ventral projection down the body. Beneath the hooves of the horses lies a lion cub, face downwards (probably dead). All the animals have well-defined and lightly modelled musculature, discreet drill-holes mark out the eyes, jaws and hind paws of the lion; a curious group of drill-holes mark the lower end of the further foreleg of the horse. Above the scene hovers a winged sun-disc from which rises the upper part of a male figure (the god Ahuramazda), his beard is striated, he wears a crown with spikes (giving it a feather-like appearance), set on a narrow circlet, his garment has long pendant sleeves from which emerge his hands, one raised, the other extended and holding a ring. The wings are long and narrow but widen slightly at the tips and are marked by long horizontal lines and divided into six sections but diagonal lines, while the tail is marked by fine vertical lines sectioned across by one curving line; two scroll-like appendages emerge from each side. Flanking the scene are two identical palm-trees or date-palms with globular bunches of fruit beneath the palm fronds on each side, and base petioles shown by a continuous criss-cross pattern down the trunks ending in widened bases. The whole is placed on a ground line. To the side is three-line vertical inscription panel." http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection\_online/collection\_object\_details.aspx?assetId=23386001&objectId=282610&partId=1 Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/502081058428523370/ 'Besides the hunting scene and the two palm trees, we can see the god Ahuramazda in the sky, and, to the left, a trilingual inscription in Elamite, Babylonian, and Persian. This is the Persian text. The last sign is in fact an abbreviation, xšâyathiya, "king" ' Source: http://www.livius.org/articles/person/darius-the-great/sources/darius-seal/