Drawing on the hundreds of published cyclinder seals from the Near East, Nijhowne attempts to reduce the gulf between historians and prehistorians. Whilst the former relies on documentary evidence, the latter on material remains, our interpretations about ancient Mesopotamian societies remains debated and often contradictory. Essentially this study investigates the relationship between cylinder seal iconography and the political and religious developments of the Old Babylonian and Kasite periods, with many illustrated examples.