Antiquities Discussion Forums > Seals and Tesserae
Small Lead Seal or Bead with Animal? from Caesarea Maritima
v-drome:
Hi, all. Here is a very difficult, very small lead seal from Caesarea. The figure at first seemed like a crocodile, but if the stripes above and below it are legs, there are three pairs of them. Maybe a shrimp? Or something else. Any ideas would be welcome. I took easily a hundred photos and just can not get anything better than this. I have inverted the obverse image to give different views, but the figure seems to be fairly symmetrical. The hole is a little irregular also, so I suppose this could have been some kind of bead or other decoration, as well. Let me know what you think! Thanks, V-drome.
BCC LSR7
Lead seal or Bead
Roman 1st -3rd cent CE?
Obv: Uncertain figure, perhaps crocodile or shrimp?
Rev: Blank
15.5 x 8.5 x 4.0mm 2.57gm.
Surface find Caesarea Maritima, 1972
(click for larger pic)
Gert:
A galley with rowers?
v-drome:
Hi Gert. I though about that, but the ends curve up and down fairly equally, though it is hard to see even in hand. Sort of like a backwards, sideways "S". And the "oars" project equally up and down. Not like any galley I have seen. Very strange!
v-drome:
Gert, the link you sent me in the "scorpion, hare, and snake tessera" post led me to a tessera with an eagle which could look something like the image on my seal. Another friend had also suggested an eagle, so maybe this is a possibility. Thanks, again!
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=8103069
edit: Actually, now the more I look at it the less likely this seems, also.
Joe Sermarini:
An eagle flying left with something (a fish) in it talons?
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