1. Cylinder Seals.
Cylinder seals.
The oldest seals that have been discovered in Egypt are of cylindrical shape, hence their name, cylinders, or more correctly, cylinder-seals. They range in size from half an inch to three and a half inches in length, and from a quarter of an inch to three quarters of an inch in diameter. They are pierced longitudinally with a hole, the diameter of which varies from a size just sufficient to receive a small thread of linen, to an aperture in which an ordinary sized finger can be thrust. The two ends are always quite plain, the engraving, in intaglio, being confined to the convex surface, which, as a rule, is parallel to the axis. In some specimens, however, the surface is hollowed in such a way that the diameter of the cylinder is greater at the ends than in the middle, but such cylinders are rare, and generally show traces of nearly erased signs appearing through the engraving; they must therefore be considered as having had their original inscription ground down in order to be re-engraved with other characters; they are in fact cylinders that have been re-used.
How used.
When the cylinder seal was required for sealing, it was gently but firmly rolled over the soft clay or other substance destined to receive the impression. To make a good and continuous sealing with an unmounted cylinder is not, however, an easy matter, and consequently we find that this class of seal was often mounted by inserting a rod of metal through its aperture, the ends of which rod projected from the cylinder, so that it could be easily held by the forefinger and thumb, while the rod, serving as an axle, enabled the operator to keep the seal in place, and at the same time to preserve an even pressure whilst rolling it over the clay. This metal rod was sometimes finished off at one end into a kind of boss, while the other end was coiled round to form a loop, so that the cylinder might be attached to a necklace or string (fig. 17). The cylinder seals of kings and nobles had more elaborate mountings, and their ends were often encased in gold, as in a specimen found by Dr. Reisner near Girgeh, and as in an example figured in a Fourth Dynasty tomb at Medûm (fig. 18). Another method of mounting is shown in a hieroglyph (fig. 19) from a Fifth Dynasty Tomb at Sakkara. Here the cylinder appears to be mounted on a metal rod, the projecting ends of which were fixed to either side of a small frame, with a handle in which the cylinder seal could revolve. By holding the handle and dragging the cylinder over the clay to be impressed, the seal would revolve as easily and evenly as a wheel on its axle, and consequently leave a good and firm impression behind. The greater number of cylinders, however, are found without any trace of having been mounted, and as many show signs of wear on the edges inside the hole, we may conclude that they were generally simply threaded on a cord, which, for security sake, was either hung by the owner round his neck or waist, or tied to his girdle or garment. It is possible that sometimes the cylinders were kept in boxes. (Abydos, II, p. 25, 12.) Prof. Petrie has discovered an ivory panel of a box for King Den engraved with a group of hieroglyphics, suggesting that the box had contained the gold seal of judgment of the king.
| Fig. 17. A MOUNTED CYLINDER SEAL. (In the Louvre.) | Fig. 18. CYLINDER SEAL. (Figured in a tomb at Medûm.) | Fig. 19. CYLINDER SEAL. (Figured in a tomb at Sakkara. From a drawing by Borchardt, A.Z., vol. xxxv, p. 106.) |
Its history.
The history of cylinder seals in Egypt covers the period from prehistoric times to the end of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, but they were only in general use down to the end of the Twelfth Dynasty, when they gave place to the more convenient “scarab” form of seal. They may be most conveniently classified according to the subjects found engraved upon them, but it is also an important matter for the student to carefully note the shape and the size of their perforation, two points which are often of considerable importance when it is desired to accurately date a specimen.
Fig. 20.
AN EARLY CYLINDER SEAL.
Fig. 21.
A CYLINDER SEAL
BEARING THE NAME
OF MERŶ RA.
(In the collection of Mr. Piers.)
Varieties of shape and perforation.
The earliest examples that are at present known are of a peculiarly short thick type, with a narrow hole running through them (fig. 20); they are almost identical in shape with the Chaldean and early Babylonian cylinder seals, and consequently may be thought to indicate a connection at a very remote period between the civilizations of Western Asia and Egypt—a connection which is still more apparent when we come to consider the subjects engraved on many of the seals themselves.[[82]] At a later period appears another variety, which is long and thick (see fig. [21]), but with a much larger perforation than that of the cylinders of the earliest period. These two varieties have been found together in tombs of the beginning of the First Dynasty, but the earlier disappears soon after the reign of King Zet (First Dynasty), while the later one was in general use down to the end of the Sixth Dynasty.
With the beginning of the Middle Kingdom we have another type of cylinder seal making its appearance; this resembles more a long cylindrical bead (fig. 22), with an aperture of only sufficient size to admit of its being strung on a thin cord or thread. The examples dating from the time of Amenemhat III and his immediate successors are often of fairly large size, but with narrow perforation, while those of the latter part of the Thirteenth Dynasty are always much smaller, and dwindle down in shape to mere cylindrical beads.
The few cylinder seals of the Hyksos period that are known are of medium size (fig. [23]), with narrow perforation, and are somewhat like those of the earlier half of the Twelfth Dynasty. The specimens of the Eighteenth and later Dynasties vary in size considerably, but they always have a narrow perforation (fig. 24).
| Fig. 22. A CYLINDER SEAL OF AMENEMHAT III. | Fig. 23. A CYLINDER SEAL OF KHŶAN. (Cairo.) | Fig. 24. A CYLINDER SEAL OF SEN-MUT. (Petrie Collection.) |
Material.
Although comparatively few specimens have been found in wood, it is clear from many clay impressions[[83]] that cylinder seals were generally made of this material. One example of wood was found at Abydos[[84]] having the inscription written upon it in ink, showing that the design was sketched out on the cylinder by a scribe before it was cut by the engraver. Next to wood, the commonest material in early times was black steatite; but a few specimens have been found of hæmatite, green jasper, and ivory. Copper and bronze examples appear during the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties, and glazed pottery specimens appear a little later. White or grey steatite, coated with blue or green glaze, was the favourite material of the Twelfth Dynasty kings and officials, and this material was in vogue till the Nineteenth Dynasty. At the beginning of the Eighteenth Dynasty carnelian cylinder seals make their appearance, and the latest specimen known is of this hard stone.
The subjects engraved upon Egyptian cylinder seals.
The subjects engraved upon Egyptian cylinder seals may be grouped into three well defined divisions. Firstly, there is a small class the engraving on which depicts figures of men and animals, sometimes very beautifully executed. Secondly, a much larger class, represented by several hundred specimens, which bear true hieroglyphic inscriptions. Thirdly, a very small class with scroll patterns or other ornamental devices.
I. Figures of men and animals.
The specimens of the first class require to be studied in some detail, for they contain elements which are of great importance to the comparative archaeologist. A typical example is given in fig. 25, and a second will be found in Pl. III, fig. 1. One of the most distinctive features of these seals is the double-forequartered animal, a feature which occurs again on the button-shaped seals[[85]] of the period intervening between the Sixth and the Twelfth Dynasties. This does not appear to be an Upper Egyptian motif, but one common to the Delta and to an early civilization of Western Asia.
Fig. 25.
IMPRESSION FROM A CYLINDER-SEAL IN THE BERLIN MUSEUM.
Another distinctive feature of these early cylinder seals is a curious bow-legged figure of a man, which is found also on the button-shaped seals[[86]] of a later date. “The characteristic form of the lower limbs,” writes Mr. Evans, who was the first to draw attention to this class of seal,[[87]] “shows that we have here to deal with the same grotesque personage who so often makes his appearance in a secondary position in Babylonian cylinders[[88]]” of an extremely archaic type, and Mr. Evans is of opinion that this figure has been taken direct from the early cylinders of Babylon.[[89]] I would suggest, however, that this feature, like that of the double-headed animals, is but another instance of Delta and Western Asian influence. It is not, indeed, improbable that in the cylinders of this class we have relics of a Delta civilization which was distinct from that of Middle and Upper Egypt. In point of date the specimens of this group range from prehistoric times to about the end of the Old Kingdom (circa 2500 B.C.), when they appear to have entirely died out.
Fig. 26.
IMPRESSION FROM A CYLINDER-SEAL IN THE BERLIN MUSEUM.]
II. Hieroglyphic inscriptions.
Of the second group of Egyptian cylinder seals, namely, those bearing hieroglyphic inscriptions, a large number are figured in the plates, but a glance at the reproductions of them will show that they are of several different types, and that they may be more conveniently studied if they are grouped into subdivisions. The examples of an earlier period than the First Dynasty may be subdivided into two separate classes.
Primitive cylinder-seals. Class I.
In the first may be placed all those bearing any primitive hieroglyphic signs which appear to give personal names written in a horizontal line (fig. 26). A remarkable feature of this class is, that on most of the examples occurs a curious figure of a stork with head turned over its back.
Class II.
To the second class belong all those seals which give personal names, with a seated figure as determinative, and always written in a horizontal line (see fig. 27). This seated figure is very unlike that which occurs in later hieroglyphic inscriptions; it is always represented as wearing a long wig of hair, which falls behind the head to some distance below the shoulders, and in front of the figure is generally shown a table upon which are figured loaves of bread. The standard-sign Neith is often found on cylinder-seals of this type, and would perhaps point to the Western Delta as the place of their origin: the stork, so common on specimens on Class I, seems, however never to occur in them.
Fig. 27.
A CYLINDER-SEAL IN THE COLLECTION OF CAPT. TIMMINS.
Class III.
With the beginning of the historical period appears another class, which is characterized by rude hieroglyphic inscriptions written in vertical columns, which columns are generally divided by lines (see fig. 28) These are the true prototypes of the Egyptian cylinder-seals of the Old and Middle Kingdoms.
Cylinder-seals of Dynastic times.
Cylinder-seals of Dynastic times which bear hieroglyphic inscriptions may be divided into groups according to the meaning of their inscriptions. Thus we have (I) a group which bears the names and titles of kings and other royal personages; (II) a group of officials which bear the king’s name and the title of the office or official, but never the personal name of the latter; and (III) a small group of private seals which bear the name and titles of the former.
Fig. 28.
IMPRESSION OF A CYLINDER-SEAL FROM MR. MACGREGOR’S COLLECTION.
Fig. 29.
IMPRESSION OF A CYLINDER-SEAL OF NARMER.
(From Petrie’s Royal Tombs, II, Pl. XIII, 91.)
Fig. 30.
IMPRESSION OF A CYLINDER-SEAL OF KING ZER.
(From Petrie’s Royal Tombs, II, Pl. XV, 108.)
Cylinder-seals bearing Royal names.
One of the earliest Royal seals that we know of is that of Narmer, the predecessor of Mena; it is reproduced in outline in fig. 29, and gives merely the Horus-name of the king. The Royal seal of Zer, Mena’s successor, gives besides the name of the monarch, a figure of him seated and wearing the two crowns, typical of Upper and Lower Egypt (see fig. 30). At the time of the Third Dynasty the Royal name is first put into an oval ring or cartouche, and a little later the name is generally accompanied by the statement that the king is “beloved of the gods,” or beloved “of the goddess Hathor.” With Men-kau-ra the title Sa Ra, “Son of Ra,” first appears,[[90]] but it is not till the Twelfth Dynasty that we find the full name of a king cut on a single seal. At the time of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Dynasties the king’s name is generally given in a cartouche either with[[91]] or without[[92]] his official titles, and then it is often accompanied by the statement that he is “beloved of Sebek”[[93]] of some specified locality. A few cylinder-seals of this period also bear the names of two or more kings.[[94]] The only specimens of the Hyksos period that are known up to the present are those of Khŷan; one of these is in the Museum at Athens,[[95]] another is in the possession of Signor Lanzone,[[96]] and a third is in the Cairo Museum (see fig. [23]). Two remarkable cylinders of about the same period are figured in Pl. VII, 2, and VIII, 1; while to the latter half of the Hyksos period must be placed the cylinder-seal of King Antef (Nub-kheper-ra), of the early Seventeenth Dynasty, which is figured in Pl. VII, 12. The Royal cylinder-seals of the Eighteenth Dynasty generally bear the king’s name in the cartouche without other decorations,[[97]] but some have also a figure of the king, or figures of gods and animals.[[98]] The large specimen reproduced in outline on Pl. VIII, 7, is the seal of Sety I of the Nineteenth Dynasty, and is one the latest specimens of Royal cylinder-seal known.
Fig. 31.
IMPRESSION FROM A CYLINDER-SEAL OF PEPŶ I.
Official cylinder-seals.
Official cylinder-seals are of two kinds. They either bear (a) the name of the king together with the title of the office or official, but not the personal name of the latter; or (b) simply the title of the official without the name of the king. The Royal name appears once or thrice on the seals of the first group, and, if repeated, the rest of the inscription is placed between the names; the titles and name of the king are almost always written in a direction contrary to that of the other words, apparently as a mark of respect (see fig. 31). These official cylinder-seals range in date from the First Dynasty to the time of Pepŷ II of the Sixth Dynasty, when they became superseded by the seals of the stamp form.
Private cylinder-seals.
Fig. 32.
Cylinder-seals bearing the name and titles of officials are also known (see fig. 32). These appear to have been used as the private seals of the persons whose names are engraved upon them. They date from the Twelfth Dynasty into the Twenty-Sixth but are very rare.
III. Scroll patterns, etc.
A very small class of cylinder-seal bears scroll patterns or geometrical devices.[[99]] These appear for the first time during the intermediate period between the end of the Sixth and the beginning of the Twelfth Dynasty, when they are generally made of glazed pottery, and are very coarsely executed. The specimens of a later time (probably Seventeenth or early Eighteenth Dynasty) are of glazed steatite, and beautifully cut.
Figs. 33 and 34.