Form of seal used in ancient times to roll an impression onto a two-dimensional surface
Cylinder-seal of the
Uruk period and its impression, c.3100 BC.
Louvre Museum.Cylinder seal of
First Dynasty of Ur Queen
Puabi, found in her tomb, dated circa 2600 BC, with modern impression. Inscription: đ €đ đ - Pu3-abi(AD)Nin - Queen Pu-abi.[1][2][3]Old Babylonian cylinder seal, c.1800 BC,
hematite. Linescan camera image (reversed to resemble an impression).
A cylinder seal is a small round cylinder, typically about one inch (2 to 3 cm) in length, engraved with written characters or figurative scenes or both, used in ancient times to roll an impression onto a two-dimensional surface, generally wet
clay. According to some sources, cylinder seals were invented around
3500 BC in the
Near East, at the contemporary sites of
Uruk in southern
Mesopotamia and slightly later at
Susa in south-western
Iran during the
Proto-Elamite period, and they follow the development of
stamp seals in the
Halaf culture or slightly earlier.[4] They are linked to the invention of the latter's
cuneiform writing on clay tablets.[5][6] Other sources, however, date the earliest cylinder seals to a much earlier time, to the Late Neolithic period (7600-6000 BC) in
Syria, hundreds of years before the invention of writing.[7][8]
Cylinder seals are a form of
impression seal, a category which includes the
stamp seal and finger ring seal. They survive in fairly large numbers and are important as art, especially in the
Babylonian and earlier Assyrian periods. Impressions into a soft material can be taken without risk of damage to the seal, and they are often displayed in museums together with a modern impression on a small strip.
Materials
The cylinder seals themselves are typically made from
hardstones, and some are a form of
engraved gem. They may also use glass or ceramics, like
Egyptian faience. Many varieties of material such as
hematite,
obsidian,
steatite,
amethyst,
lapis lazuli and
carnelian were used to make cylinder seals. As the alluvial country of Mesopotamia lacks good stone for carving, the large stones of early cylinders were imported probably from Iran.[9] Most seals have a hole running through the centre of the body, and they are thought to have typically been worn on a necklace to be always available when needed.
Size comparison of seals, with their impression strips (modern/current impressions)
Uses
Cylinder-seal impressions served as an administrative tool, a form of signature,[10] and for
product branding.[11]
The cylinders themselves functioned as jewelry and as magical
amulets;[12] later versions[when?] would employ notations with
Mesopotamian cuneiform. In later periods, they were used[citation needed] to
notarize or attest to multiple impressions of clay documents.
Graves and other sites housing precious items such as gold, silver, beads, and gemstones often included one or two cylinder seals, as honorific
grave goods.
The images depicted on cylinder seals were mostly theme-driven and often sociological or religious. Instead of addressing the authority of the seal, a better study may be of the thematic nature of the seals, since they presented the ideas of the society in pictographic and text form. In a famous cylinder depicting
Darius I of
Persia: he is aiming his drawn bow at an upright enraged lion impaled by two arrows, while his chariot horse is trampling a dead lion. The scene is framed between two slim palm trees and a block of cuneiform text and, above the scene, the
Faravahar symbol of
Ahura Mazda, the god representation of
Zoroastrianism.
Categories of seals
The reference below, Garbini, covers many of the following categories of cylinder seal.
Dominique Collon's book First Impressions, which is dedicated to the topic, has over 1000 illustrations.
Akkadian seal,
c. 2300 BC, stone seal w/ modern impression. See National Geographic Ref. The glyptic (the Scenes) shows "God in
barge", people, and offerings.
see Ref (Garbini), "Seated God, and Worshippers", Cylinder seal, and a modern Impressin, p. 40, (British Museum, London).
Syrian cylinder seals.
See also
A roll-out of the
San Andres ceramic cylinder seal containing what has been proposed as evidence of the earliest
writing system in
Mesoamerica. This cylinder seal is dated to approximately 650 BC and is unrelated to the Mesopotamian cylinder seals.Assyria. Seals showing method of mounting; Brooklyn Museum Brooklyn Museum Archives, Goodyear Archival Collection
^"Ancient Cylinder Seals". Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum. Johns Hopkins University. Archived from
the original on 30 June 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2023. Throughout much of the ancient Near Eastern world, from the end of the 4th millennium B.C.E. until the 5th century B.C.E., cylinder seals were used both as administrative tools â functioning much as a signature does on an official document today, or used to mark one's property and to prevent tampering with sealed doors or containers [...].
^"Ancient Cylinder Seals". Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum. Johns Hopkins University. Archived from
the original on 30 June 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2023. Throughout much of the ancient Near Eastern world, from the end of the 4th millennium B.C.E. until the 5th century B.C.E., cylinder seals were used [...] as decorative or protective amulets â often worn on a necklace or a pin.
Bahn, Paul. Lost Treasures, Great Discoveries in World Archaeology, Ed. by Paul G. Bahn, (Barnes and Noble Books, New York), c 1999. Examples of, or discussions of Stamp seals, cylinder seals and a metal stamp seal.
Collon, Dominique. First Impressions, Cylinder Seals in the Ancient Near East, (British Museum Press, London), 1987, 2005. Very comprehensive and up to date account, with many illustrations. The author has compiled several of the volumes cataloging the collection of cylinder seals in the British Museum.
Collon, Dominique. Near Eastern Seals, (British Museum, London), 1990. Shorter account which also includes stamp seals . Part of the BM's Interpreting the Past series
Frankfort, H. Cylinder Seals, 1939, London. A classic, though obviously doesn't reflect later research.
Garbini, Giovanni. Landmarks of the World's Art, The Ancient World, by Giovanni Garbini, (McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, Toronto), General Eds, Bernard S. Myers, New York, Trewin Copplestone, London, c 1966. "Discussion, or pictures of about 25 cylinder seals"; also lists the "Scaraboid seal", an impression seal (needs to be a mirror/reverse to be an impression seal).
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Cuneiform Texts in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art: Tablets, Cones, and Bricks of the Third and Second Millennia B.C., vol. 1 (New York, 1988). The final section (Bricks) of the book concerns cylinder Seals, with a foreword describing the purpose of the section as to instigate Research into cylinder Seals. The 'cylinder sealing' on the bricks, was done multiple times per brick. Some are of high quality, and some are not. (Also contains the only 2 el
Amarna letters, in the US, with Analysis.)
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ancient Near Eastern Art, (Reprint), Metr. Mus. of Art Photograph Studio, Designed, Alvin Grossman, Photography, Lynton Gardiner, (Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (Spring 1984)), c 1984. 56pgs.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Beyond Babylon, Art, Trade and Diplomacy in the Second Millennium BC, ed. Joan Aruz. 2008. Many cylinder seals of the period illustrated in color with impressions and descriptions.
National Geogr. Soc. Wonders of the Ancient World; National Geographic Atlas of Archeology, Norman Hammond, Consultant, Nat'l Geogr. Soc., (Multiple Staff authors), (Nat'l Geogr., R.H.Donnelley & Sons, Willard, OH), 1994, 1999, Reg. or Deluxe Ed. Origins of Writing, section, pp 68â75.
Akkadian Cylinder seal, with its modern seal impression. p. 71.
Robinson, Andrew. The Story of Writing, Andrew Robinson, (Thames and Hudson), c 1995, paperback ed., c 1999. (Page 70, Chapter 4: Cuneiform)
Ur-Nammu cylinder seal (and impression), with 2095 BC hieroglyphs, 2X-3X;
Darius I, impression only, of chariot hunting scene, 2X, ca 500 BC.