5. The Officials Concerned in its use.
As the seal was put to such varied and important uses in Ancient Egypt, it is no wonder that many officials of the Government were concerned in its employment. There were
khetemtiu,[[31]] “sealers” (singular
khetemu, “a sealer”), attached to almost every department of the public service,[[32]] as well as to all the religious institutions of the country; and even wealthy noblemen[[33]] usually had one or more of these “sealers” in their household, whose duty it was to give out from the khetemu, “sealed rooms” or “store rooms,” the provisions and other private property required by the great man or by his household. So important was it that the process of sealing jars, boxes, and doors should be done properly, that
seḥez,[[34]] “instructors,” in the art were employed.
A scene in a tomb at Sakkara[[35]] shows one of these officials carrying a pail of mud with a ladle in it, going to instruct his pupils. These “sealers” formed a regularly organized body, and served under a
mer or “superintendent.”[[36]]
The reader’s attention has already been drawn to the fact that the monarch was invested at his coronation with a Royal Signet, upon which his name and titles were engraved. In the earlier periods of Egyptian history this Royal Signet was, doubtless, either worn by the monarch himself or carried in some secure way about his person. We do not read in the inscriptions of the earliest dynasties of any “Keeper of the Royal Seal,” as we find so frequently alluded to in the hieroglyphic texts from the Middle Kingdom onwards, and it would consequently appear as if the king himself in those early times attended to the business connected with his Treasury Department.
Two important officials of the oldest period, however, were closely concerned with the use of the seal, and their titles were derived from its name. One of these was the “Sealer of the Honey [jars]”; the other was the “Divine Sealer,” “Sealer of the God.” The first title[[37]]
“the Sealer of the Honey [jars],” was, perhaps, the oldest of the many hundreds of titles that we find at all periods of Egyptian history, and from the Third Dynasty onwards there was probably not a man of less than royal rank who would not have been proud to bear it. It originally meant, as we have said, “the Sealer of the Honey [jars]” honey being the greatest of all primitive luxuries, and its use reserved for the king’s table. This title must therefore be regarded as a relic of the most extreme antiquity, and it certainly goes back to the time before the use of wine in the Nile Valley. At the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty (circa 3000 B.C.), however, its meaning had probably become already obsolete, and from that period onwards it meant nothing more than a “Royal Sealer,”[[38]] or one entitled to use a seal with the monarch’s name engraven upon it. Doubtless there were several of these officers employed in the royal palaces to look after the security of the king’s private property, and it was the duty of some of them to accompany the sovereign on his various military expeditions.[[39]]
In contradistinction to this secular title we find the
“Divine Sealer,” the priest who had charge of the temple treasure, furniture, and goods that were kept under the temple seals. This title, like the one that we have just discussed, occurs also at an early period, and continued in use till very late times.[[40]] These “Divine Sealers” were attached to the service of various gods, or they were employed by the religious authorities of certain districts. In the first case they are specified as “of Amen,”[[41]] “of Horus,” etc.; while in the second as “of Abydos,”[[42]] “of Thebes,” etc. It is possible that they were placed under a mer[[43]] or “Superintendent,” but the title is so rare that this was not usually the case. It was the Divine Sealer’s duty to obtain and supervise the transport of stone for the temple buildings,[[44]] and to pay for and, if necessary, to collect in far distant countries precious things for the service of the gods. In order to obtain stone for statues or for temple buildings, he sometimes led semi-military expeditions to quarries far in the deserts,[[45]] and when it was necessary to convey the huge blocks of granite and other material down the river, he was usually placed in command of the transport ships.[[46]]
From the time of the Middle Kingdom[[47]] (circa B.C. 2000) onwards the title
mer khetem,[[48]] “Superintendent” or “Keeper of the (Royal) Seal”[[49]] is constantly occurring in the hieroglyphic inscriptions. During the first half of the Twelfth Dynasty, while each province was yet ruled over by semi-independent chieftains, there appears to have been a Keeper of the (Royal) Seal employed in the administration of each nome,[[50]] whose duty it was to collect and transmit treasure to the central office. Next to the chieftain himself, he was perhaps the most important personage in the province, for he had control over its revenues, and all its public works were carried out under his supervision. Baqt, the Keeper of the (Royal) Seal in the Oryx nome, supervised the excavation and adornment of Khnemhetep’s magnificent monument at Beni Hasan.[[51]] When that great nomarch’s officials defiled before him, the Keeper of the (Royal) Seal stood in the place of honour[[52]] behind the uhem or “Herald,” and in front of the mer meshau or “General of the Troops.” He was the nomarch’s trusted friend, and accompanied him on his hunting and fowling[[53]] expeditions in the desert and on the river, while in Khnemhetep’s funeral procession to Abydos, his place was in the State barge at the side of the deceased prince’s children.[[54]] A very interesting scene at Beni Hasan shows the Keeper of the (Royal) Seal seated in his kha[[55]] or “office,” watching one of his assistants weighing gold, or some other precious metal, in a balance, while a seated scribe writes down the weight on a wooden tablet or sheet of papyrus (see fig. 15). The office here shown was very similar to that of the Vezîr;[[56]] it was a columned hall of six columns in two rows, the front being open to the air, while at the back was a door which gave entrance to the bêt el mâl or treasury.
Fig. 15.
THE OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE SEAL.
(From a painting in a tomb at Beni Hasan.)
About the middle of the Twelfth Dynasty a great change appears to have taken place in the political constitution of Egypt; we no longer hear of the Chieftains of Nomes or Provinces, and it seems that the Government, for a short time at least, became much more strictly centralized than it had ever been before. With this centralization of the administration several new offices were created, the provincial “Keepers of the (Royal) Seal” appear to have been suppressed, and adenus, “wakîls” or “deputies” of the Chief Keeper, appointed in their stead. The Treasury Department, however, was still presided over by a single[[57]] “Keeper of the Royal Seal,” who henceforth was one of the most important and powerful personages in the realm;[[58]] he became, in fact, the Chancellor of the Exchequer,[[59]] an Lord Chancellor, Keeper of the Seal.
Unfortunately we have no long inscription recording this great official’s duties, as we have in the case of the Vezîr,[[60]] so it is only by gathering a fact here and there from many sources that we can obtain any idea of his multifarious duties. That he had charge of the Government stores, and supervised everything connected with the bêt el mâl or Treasury, is certain;[[61]] he had also to be responsible for the payment of all Government bills. If any important public monument had to be erected,[[62]] or if any government business was to be undertaken, it was his duty, together with his staff of assistants, to make all necessary arrangements regarding the payment of the employés, which must have been a most onerous task, when we remember that the Egyptians possessed no coined money until after the time of Alexander the Great. The supervision of the taxation of the country appears also to have been placed in the Chancellor’s hands, and it was his custom, as it still is with the heads of the departments of the various services of the Khedive’s administration, to make an annual tour of inspection throughout the length and breadth of the country.[[63]] In time of war a number of his officers accompanied the military expeditions, and when a town was plundered by the royal troops, they took possession of the spoil, some of which was kept for the Treasury, while the rest was given to the temples as an offering to the gods.[[64]]
But not only did the Egyptian Chancellor have charge of everything connected with the Treasury, he seems also to have had a considerable share of the responsibility of appointing various State officials. We have already referred to the story of Joseph’s appointment to the Vezîrate, in which case the Seal or Signet of office was given by the king personally. With other officials, however, it seems to have been the custom for the Chancellor to deliver the Seal, and this ceremonial in a bureaucratic country such as Egypt then was, must have entailed a vast amount of time. Possessing the authority to appoint high officers, and also the means of controlling the State Treasury, it is no wonder that these old Chancellors attained to a great degree of power, and there seems reason to believe that more than one dynasty had its origin in a Chancellor’s family.
So many and various were the duties of the Keeper of the (Royal) Seal, that it is hardly matter for surprise if we find that he employed a large staff of assistants to help him. Among these the
, “Deputy of the Keeper of the (Royal) Seal,”[[65]] appears to have been the most important. When his chief was absent from the capital on one of the official tours of inspection through the country, this adenu or “deputy” was left in charge of the central office, and the duty naturally devolved upon him of looking after the permanent staff of the Treasury Department. This staff consisted of:—
(1) A
“Chief Overseer of the Courtyard of the Keeper of the (Royal) Seal,”[[66]] an official who was, I believe, deputed to personally supervise everything that went in or out of the Bêt el mal or Treasury. There was also
(2) A
or “Overseer of the Courtyard of the Keeper of the (Royal) Seal.”[[67]]
(3) A
or “Overseer of the Courtyard of the Office of the Keeper of the (Royal) Seal.”[[68]]
(4) Several
“Assistants.”[[69]]
(5) A
“Chief Scribe,”[[70]] and several
(6)
“Scribes,”[[71]] who had their own
or “men servants?” These scribes of the Chancellor were very important officials: they were intrusted with official seals, and allowed to transact on their own responsibility important business affairs connected with the State. They appear generally with the title
“Scribe in Charge of the Seal,” or, more literally, “he who writes with an Official Seal.” They are found under this title only towards the end of the Twelfth Dynasty, and their services were retained by the bureaucratic kings of the Thirteenth Dynasty, but no mention occurs of them in later times. They were employed in writing official documents, in keeping accounts, and in fixing prices to be paid for wages of labourers. From inscriptions that have been preserved, it would seem that each town[[72]] had its own “Scribe in Charge of the Seal,” and we read of a “Scribe in Charge of the Seal of the labour bureau” in a Thirteenth Dynasty papyrus.[[73]]
Besides the foregoing officials, who were doubtless paid by the Government, the Chancellor had also his private staff to manage his own estates and affairs. Among these may be mentioned[[74]] a mer per, or “Steward;”[[75]] a mer shenti, or “Superintendent of the Granary;”[[76]] a sesh sha, or “letter writer;”[[77]] and an ari aa, or “doorkeeper.”[[78]]
The profession of the seal engraver was obviously an important one in Egypt, but we do not find any references to his occupation in the ancient literature. He was called the mer kesti, and the scarab-seal of one named Amenŷ-ankh is in the possession of Mr. Arthur Evans (see [Pl. XVII], 27).[[79]]
6. Seal Engravers and the
Technique of Seal Engraving.
The process of making a seal out of hard stone was simple enough; a suitable piece of amethyst, jasper, or other material was taken, cut into the shape of a cylinder, stamp, or scarabaeus beetle, and polished. The device or inscription was then engraved in intaglio. In the case of steatite, schist, and other soft stones, the device was sometimes drawn in ink[[80]] before being cut, and the seal was finished by being dipped into a vitreous glaze in order to harden it.
Pottery and paste scarab seals were moulded in terra-cotta moulds. A lump of potter’s clay or paste was taken, then pressed into a dusted mould, and flattened with a knife at the bottom. It was then shaken out and left to dry. When dry, the scarab was placed in the engraver’s hands, and the inscription or device was cut on the elliptical base; the whole was then sometimes coated with vitreous glaze.
The glazes used were of different colours, varying from pale blue to deep violet, and from pale to dark green. Sometimes red and yellow glazes were also employed. Often the glazes have changed colour, and sometimes only faint traces of it remain on a seal. Seals that are now brown in colour were originally green, while grey or white examples were generally blue.
The tools used were apparently of four kinds: a knife, a graver, a simple drill, and a tubular drill.
The knife, perhaps of hardened bronze, was used for cutting the specimens of the softer materials into shape, while the graver, of flint or obsidian, was employed for cutting the device or inscription. Herodotus mentions[[81]] that the Ethiopians pointed their arrows with the same sort of hard stone or flint that was used for engraving signets.
The simple drill, used for drilling the soft stone seals and for engraving those of the hard stone class, consisted of a metal drill with handle, the butt end of which revolved inside a stone or wooden cap which the engraver held in his hand, and was thus able to direct the point to the right place. The drill itself was made to revolve by means of rapidly moving forwards and backwards by a bow, the string of which was wound round the stick of the drill. Carpenters and cabinet workers in the East still use a similar bow drill at the present day.
Fig. 16.
WORKING THE BOW DRILL.
(From the tomb of Rekhmara.)
The tubular drill was also worked in the same way with a bow, but instead of the drill being pointed as in the simple drill, it was tubular. With hard stones both these kinds of drill were used, with emery powder and oil or water.