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Ancient Near Eastern Seals in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

J. M. Munn-Rankin
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Extract

This catalogue of ancient Near Eastern seals is published and the photographs are reproduced by kind permission of the Syndics of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. The term “ancient Near East” is here used to cover the period from the prehistoric age until the end of the Achaemenid Empire. The majority of the seals in the Collection are Mesopotamian in origin but Achaemenid art is well represented and there are a few examples of Syrian, Anatolian and Phoenician glyptic; Egyptian seals have not been included. None of the seals was obtained through excavation and in only a few cases is it known where they were acquired. In consequence their classification has had to be based entirely on stylistic grounds. No attempt has been made in this article to give a general history of the development of Near Eastern glyptic art since this has been treated in a number of publications, notably H. Frankfort, Cylinder Seals, A. Moortgat, Vorderasiatische Rollsiegel, E. Porada, Corpus of Ancient Near Eastern Seals in North American Collections, vol. I, H. H. von der Osten, Altorientalische Siegelsteine der Sammlung Mans Silbius von Auloch (Studia Ethnographica Upsaliensis, vol. XIII).

The seals have been classified according to form into three groups: I, cylinder seals; II, seal-amulets; III, stamp seals. Groups I and III have been subdivided according to region, but so far as possible a chronological arrangement has been followed in order to give a continuous presentation of the development of glyptic art.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , Spring 1959 , pp. 20 - 37
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 1959

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References

page 23 note 1 In a Sumerian liturgy the temple of Kish is compared to a dar-bar-(sig7-ga), a goat or stag (Langdon, S., O.E.C.T. I, 53, ll. 16–17Google Scholar). I am indebted to Professor C. J. Gadd for the reference.

page 23 note 2 In Sialk Necropolis B bird bones adhered to bidents that had presumably been used in the funerary feast (Ghirshman, R., Fouilles de Sialk, II, 53–54Google Scholar); in Tepe Hissar III there was a combined tridentladle (E. Schmidt, Museum Journal, XXIII, pl. CXX A); cf. also I Samuel II: 13, 14.

page 23 note 3 For the dating of these graves see Buchanan, B., J.A.O.S., 74, 153Google Scholar.

page 24 note 1 The term “Old Babylonian” is here used to cover both the Isin-Larsa dynasties and the First Dynasty of Babylon (cf. Porada, E., J.C.S. 4, 155 ffGoogle Scholar) The chronology adopted is that proposed by Professor S. Smith in Alalakh and Chronology.

page 24 note 2 For the reading of ŠU as Gimil in the Old Babylonian period see Stamm, J. J., M.V.A.G., XLIV, 263Google Scholar; for dNani cf. Deimel, A., Pantheon Babylonicum, 188, no. 2266Google Scholar.

page 24 note 3 Although the necklace ribbon is represented during the Third Dynasty of Ur it was not common before the Old Babylonian period (Spycket, A., R.A. XLII, 89, ffGoogle Scholar: Porada, E., J.C.S. 4, 156Google Scholar.

page 25 note 1 I am indebted to Mr. D. J. Wiseman for this reading.

page 33 note 1 Although seals 50–61, representing a worshipper standing before symbols, have been classed as Neo-Babylonian the motive continued into the Achaemenid period.

page 36 note 1 Dr. D. Diringer, who kindly examined the seal, comments: “The first symbol, reading from right to left, is hardly a letter. If the lower part of the sign is a letter it could be a l(amed) meaning “to”, “of” “belonging to”. The second sign, if it is a letter, is a t(aw). The third may be an 'aleph. Assuming that the “inscription” reads l(?)t' the signs t' may represent an abbreviated name or initials.”

page 36 note 2 I am indebted to Mr. H. S. Smith for this information.

page 36 note 3 A fishman is also represented on the fifth century coinage of Cyzicus (W. Greenwell, Numismatic Chronicle VII. pl. I, 11–12).