Page 74 - DILMUN 13_Neat

The bsll-game festival for
Moon-Go‫ ﺍ‬Nanna

By : Ali Akbar H. Bushiri

oCTOBER 1983

ieal No. 36

is study concerns itself with a single seal, Seal No. 36, which covers a new aspect of
hilmun culture. This seal covers an annual bull-game associated with moon-god Nanna'

Seal No. 36, has t١٧o large animals right and left side of it, with front legs in running
sition. The bulls have short tails, The bull figure on the right is possibly a cow. In all‫ﻥ‬
robability they are bulls.

There is a man on top of each of them in a standing position and their hands are
retched in front of them as an acrobat would do. The way they stand and the position of
:eir hands imply an attempt to balance their bodies on the back of the bull while it is
nning. There is no question about it, the men are acrobats, and it is an acrobatic event.

Tere is an astronomical sign between the two men in the middle of the seal, star-like in
ppearance, with twelve light beams, and each light beam ends with a circle on top. It
2presents one year, twelve months, or, in other words, it means that the acrobatic
all-game festival was an annual event.

The last sign on the seal is a symbolic sign for the moon-god, Nanna, of Mesopotamian
‫ﺍ‬، t.yhologty. It is in tnhe shape of a cresce

I. The Great Festival of the Moon-God

or the first time we are faced with a sports event cavred on a Dilmun seal as an act of
osrhip to a deity, Civilised people and worshippers of gods used sport in their customs and
:ligious activities?'. It is interesting that sport was related to the mythology of ancient
ltures, such as the Phoenician, Greek and Minoxan Crete. "Ancient sports were most

1. Seal No. 36, from kuwait National Museum, No. 1314-396٠FH.502.
t ‫ﻟﻔﻨﻘﻦﺍﻴﻻﺔﻴﺒﻣ ﻟﺪﻯ‬, ‫ ﺍﻷﻟﻌﺎﺏ ﺍﻮﻟ‬Page 14.

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