'Ain Samiya goblet

The 'Ain Samiya Goblet is a silver cup from the Middle Bronze Age I (2300-2000 BC), found in a tomb at Ain Samiya near modern Ramallah, Palestine. It depicts a double-headed god with an animal body planting crops and the dead body of a serpent, parts of whom are being held by two male figures. The scenes are proported to depict a proto version of the Babylonian creation epic, the Enuma Elish and the defeat of Tiamat by the Babylonian patron deity, Marduk.[1] The goblet demonstrates clear influences from Mesopotamia on Proto-Canaanite culture and shares other parallels with contemporary depictions like the Khafaje plaque during Babylonian captivity.[2][3]

A flat rendering of the scenes depicted on the Ain Samiya Goblet
Khafaje plaque with similar iconography found in Mesopotamia from the Isin-Larsa period around the same time as the goblet

References
  1. Mundkur, Balaji (1983). The Cult of the Serpent: An Interdisciplinary Survey of Its Manifestations and Origins. Albany: State University of New York Press. p. 125. ISBN 0-87395-631-1.
  2. Yadin, Y. (1971). "A Note on the Scenes Depicted on the 'Ain-Samiya Cup". Israel Exploration Journal. 21 (2/3): 82–85. ISSN 0021-2059. JSTOR 27925266.
  3. "Rare goblet: Ein Samiya, near Ramallah". Israel Museum. 2022-04-06. Retrieved 2022-04-20.
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