ABSTRACT
As has long been noted, among the numerous gold and silver vessels mentioned in the texts from Old Babylonian Mari are a group that were probably animal headed cups and perhaps represent distant ancestors of later Persian and Greek rhytons. These are the vessels described as GAL.SAG +(animal’s name) = cup 1 , head of (animal). They have been noted and/or discussed by several scholars and their probable archaeological analogs in the terracotta animal headed cups from Kültepe and Alishar have been pointed out 2 . With the recent publication of many more of the Mari texts 3 the repertoire of references concerning these vessels has increased many fold. This brief essay is intended to bring these references to the attention of other scholars and to point out some interesting details and the possible implication for the archaeological record.
