The Varieties of Egyptian Seals

Varieties of Egyptian seals.

It has already been remarked that Egyptian seals may be divided into two great groups: namely (1) those of cylindrical shape, which were rolled over the clay or other substance to be impressed; and (2) those with a flat base, which were used as stamps. Both these types probably originated in Western Asia. The first group comprises all (a) cylinder seals; to the second belong all (b) hemi-cylinder and cone shaped seals, (c) button shaped seals, (d) scarab shaped seals, (e) plaques and other miscellaneous forms, and (f) Signet rings.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

2. Button-shaped and Hemi-cylinder Seals

Button-shaped seals.

A small, but very distinctive class of seal, cut in the shape of a button, with flat circular disc and loop at the back (see fig. 33), has recently been found in Egypt, and closely akin to this class is another, but much smaller one, the examples of which are cut in the form of a hemi-cylinder (sometimes with projecting base), and pierced through their length by a hole of | Hemi-cylinders.| sufficient size to admit of a fine piece of string being inserted (see fig. 34). Some of the button-shaped seals have ornamented backs: instead of the loop being plain as in fig. 39, it is cut in such a way as to represent two hawks’ heads, or the fore-parts of two lions back to back. Occasionally we also find specimens in the shape of a hippopotamus’ head (fig. 40).

How used and mounted.

The specimens of these two classes were used as stamps, and they are generally found either attached to a finger by a flaxen thread, or threaded to a string of beads, in which case they were worn around the neck as pendants.100 Occasionally they have been found without any attachment, but simply held by the owner in his or her left hand.

Their history.

These two classes of seal were in use in Egypt for a limited period only. They appear for the first time in graves belonging to the end of the Sixth Dynasty,101 and during the period intervening between that time and the beginning of the Middle Kingdom they were the commonest form of seal in use.102 Before the end of the Eleventh Dynasty they seem to have entirely disappeared.

The subjects engraved on (1) button-shaped seals.

The patterns 103 that we find engraved upon button-shaped seals are distinctive, and they are certainly not Upper Egyptian in their origin. Hieroglyphs very rarely occur (cf. fig. 41), and when they do, they are clearly imitations of Egyptian characters made apparently by foreigners. The motives for some of the designs are clear; thus a common type is that which has already been noticed as occurring on a class of early cylinder-seal—the linked forequarters of gazelles and other animals symmetrically arranged (cf. figs. 39, 40); sometimes also we find a curious running figure of a man (fig. 42, and cf. fig. 35), and occasionally a tortoise, a lizard (cf. fig. 43), or a spider (cf. fig. 44). Conventional and geometrical patterns are also found, the meander 104 and the radiated disc being perhaps the most frequent. See also figs. 45-6.

(2) Hemi-cylinders.

The patterns occurring on the hemi-cylinder seals are nearly all geometrical, as shown in figs. 47-57, but the human figure is sometimes represented, as in fig. 34.

Historical importance of button-shaped seals.

The button-shaped seals are of considerable interest to the student of comparative archaeology, and they are certainly not Upper Egyptian in their origin. The earlier forms have, moreover, no affinity to the Mycenaean series of designs, and, as Mr. Petrie 105 has remarked, the spirals, butterfly, cuttlefish and other characteristic types are absent. On the other hand, they have several links which connect them to the Greek Island and Cretan class of seals, and also to some found in Italy, from which we may perhaps infer that they are of common origin.106 An almost exact reproduction of some of these steatite buttons in clay actually occurs in the Italian terramare, and in the Ligurian cave deposits of neolithic and æneolithic periods. Mr. A. Evans writes, “The clay stamp from the terramare of Montale in the Modenese, represented in fig. 52, the top of which is now broken, was probably once perforated, is not only analogous in form but bears a simple geometrical design almost identical with that on an early steatite button-seal from Knossos.”107

Material.

Specimens of button-seals have been found in gold, amethyst, carnelian, lapis lazuli, black steatite, steatite glazed blue or green, ivory, bone, and blue or green glazed pottery. The hemi-cylinders are only as yet known in steatite glazed blue or green.

3. Scarab-shaped Seals

Scarab-shaped seals.

By far the commonest form of Egyptian seal was that cut in the shape of the scarabaeus beetle, hence its name, “Scarab” or “Scarabaeus,” from the Greek name of the insect, [Greek: skarabos] or [Greek: skarabeios] (Latin scarabaeus).108 The beetle is represented standing on an elliptical base, on which is engraved in intaglio a hieroglyphic inscription or ornamental pattern. The seals of this class range in size from a fifth of an inch in length to four or even five inches, but the commonest size is about three-quarters of an inch, by half-an-inch broad and a quarter of an inch high. They are nearly always pierced longitudinally with a hole, the size of which is usually just sufficient to receive a thread or thin wire.

How used.

When the scarab-seal was used for sealing, it was simply pressed upon the clay destined to receive the impression, just as a signet is used at the present day. A large number of clay-sealings from scarabs have been found in different localities in Egypt, and bear witness to the manner in which this class of seal was used.

How mounted.

The greater number of scarabs were probably simply strung on a thread of string, by which they were secured to the garment or girdle of the person to whom they belonged. Sometimes they were worn on the finger, attached by a piece of string (fig. 53), or they were simply mounted as swivels to metal rings, in which they revolved (fig. 54), or they were enclosed in a metal frame or funda in order to protect their edges from injury, and then mounted as swivels to metal rings (fig. 55). Such mountings often give us a clue to the date of these objects, and will be found described in detail in the section on signet-rings.

Current ideas regarding scarabs.

The beetle upon which these little seals are modelled, and from which they take their name, is the Scarabaeus sacer of entomologists, an insect which is remarkable not only for the structure and situation of its hind legs, which give it a singular appearance when walking, but also for its habit of rolling up balls of excrementitious matter in which the female encloses her eggs. The balls of dung the insect rolls about the sand until they become coated with a thick layer of dust, and grow to a size often as large as the insect itself. The Egyptians, who were always keen observers of nature, early noticed this remarkable habit, and selected the scarabaeus as the symbol of their god Khepera, “he who turns” or “rolls;” for the conception was that Khepera caused the sun to move across the sky, as the beetle causes its ball to roll along the sand. There was also another reason for the Egyptian linking the insect and the god together: as the young beetle came forth from the ball of clay it was believed that a female beetle did not exist, that it was consequently the “only-begotten,” because it was a “creature self-produced and not conceived by a female.” Hence we find that for this reason it is said to have been taken as the emblem of Khepera, the “Father of the Gods,” who created all things out of clay. Consequently we find that several archaeologists attach a sacred meaning to the myriads of scarabs that have been found in Egypt; they regard them simply as emblems of the god Khepera.

It is, however, as a “charm” or “amulet” having magical qualities that the scarab is usually spoken of at the present day, and that a few of them had a magical signification is proved beyond a doubt by the inscriptions that are found engraved upon some of them. There is also a mention of a scarab being employed for the purposes of magic in a magical receipt book 109 of the period intervening between the end of the Twelfth and the beginning of the Eighteenth Dynasty; but it must here be remarked that in this case the scarab is called a khetem or “seal,” which clearly shows that the Egyptians regarded these objects primarily as seals, to whatever other uses they may have put them.

From the fact that scarabs bearing royal names are often found with mummies in the tombs, it has been conjectured that they were laid with the dead “to place them under the protection of their former lord in the next world, and to ensure that they should follow him and share in all the immunities and privileges that so great a divine being would enjoy with the gods.”

Another theory regarding Egyptian scarabs is that they were employed as tokens of value, but, as we have already remarked,110 the idea that they were used for the purposes of barter or exchange is not supported by the inscriptions, or by any of the scenes depicted on the walls of the ancient tombs or temples. The statement of Plato that engraved stones were used in Ethiopia as money refers to Ethiopia alone and not to Egypt, for there was certainly no coined money in the Nile Valley until the period of the Ptolemies.

Other archaeologists there are who hold that these objects were made and used for the purpose of personal decoration; but although there is every reason to believe that they were often, perhaps generally, worn on the person, it by no means follows that this was their only or even their principal use. At the present day we often carry our seals on our watch chains, or we wear our signets as rings on our fingers, but we cannot rightly say that these articles were made solely for the adornment of the person.

These are the principal theories regarding the use and signification of the Egyptian scarab which have been set forth in works hitherto published on the subject, but archaeologists are beginning to abandon these views in favour of another and a simpler one, that has not as yet been discussed at length, but that recognizes in these little objects nothing more than a simple seal or signet.111 This use is borne witness to by the great number of actual impressions of them on bits of clay that have served as seals to letters and other documents, as well as to boxes, vases, and bags that have been found in the ruins of ancient towns; and these impressions include every variety of scarab—royal, official, and private, as well as those bearing figures of animals and ornamental patterns. The large number of scarabs which bear the names of officials and private persons also points to the same conclusion, for it is impossible to regard the examples of this extensive group in any other light than as the “direct forerunners of the private seals which are so universal in the East at the present day.” A large number of scarabs have also been dug up by excavators which are mounted in metal bands (fundae), showing that they had served as bezels to rings, and many early rings with scarab bezels may be seen in our museums; these can hardly be regarded in any other light than as signet-rings.

It has been urged against this interpretation that the manufacture of scarabs in such profusion as we find them, precludes the idea that they were signets and nothing more, but it seems to have been forgotten that many millions of people must have lived during the several thousand years of ancient Egyptian history. The fact also that so many bear the royal superscription of one and the same king has likewise been brought forward as a serious objection to the theory that royal scarabs were used as seals; but here again the two kings whose names are most often found on these objects are the two—Thothmes III and Rameses II—whose reigns were the longest of all the Egyptian monarchs, and they must have employed a great number of officials entitled to use the royal seals during their long administrations. It is in the light of seals, therefore, that scarabs are considered in the present volume.

Their history.

It is difficult to fix the precise period at which the scarab form of seal first appears in history. It is a noteworthy fact, however, that not a single specimen has yet been authenticated from a grave of a date anterior to the Sixth Dynasty. The remarkable tombs discovered by Petrie, de Morgan and others, at Abydos, Nagada, and Bêt Khalâf, though they contained not a single scarab or impression of one, produced a large series of clay sealings used for wine jars, etc., exhibiting impressions of cylinder seals. It is remarkable also that in the extensive cemetery of Dendera, where there were many remains of the Sixth to Eleventh Dynasties, not a single scarab was found which could be attributed to an earlier period than the Twelfth Dynasty, and a similar result was obtained from the cemetery at Hu of the same period. In Mr. Garstang’s excavations at Beni Hasan, out of eight hundred tombs of the period that were opened and examined, not one inscribed scarab was found of the Eleventh and early Twelfth Dynasties. These facts would lead one to suppose that at least scarabs were not in general use in Egypt until the middle of the Twelfth Dynasty.

A few scarabs, however, bear the names of kings of the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Dynasties, but from the forms of the backs, the glaze and general technique, they all appear to me to be of a much later period than that of the monarchs whose names they bear. The names anterior to the Twelfth Dynasty that occur upon such scarabs are Mena, Khufu, Kha-ef-ra, Men-kau-ra, Unas, Merŷ-ra (Pepŷ I) and Mer-en-ra. The Mena scarabs are admitted by Prof. Petrie and other Egyptian archaeologists to be of a much later date than the Old Kingdom. That scarabs of Khufu, Kha-ef-ra and Men-kau-ra were made during the Eighteenth and later dynasties there can be no question. In the Cairo Museum are four scarabs, all found together by Mariette at Sakkara, which are of exactly the same modelling, material and glaze: one bears the name of Khufu, another that of Nefer-ka-ra, the third that of Nefer-ra, while the fourth is of Amenardes of the Twenty-Fourth Dynasty. In a private collection in Cairo is a scarab bearing the name of Kha-ef-ra in green glazed steatite, with cutting, form of back, and glaze exactly similar to that of a well-known type of Thothmes III. All the Men-kau-ra scarabs are also undoubtedly not earlier than the period of the Eighteenth Dynasty. The Unas scarabs bear a great resemblance to a certain class of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties: they are generally coarsely cut, and the glaze has turned a dull brown. The only scarab of Merŷ-ra known is of the same style as the scarabs of the Thirteenth Dynasty, and Merŷ-ra was a fairly common personal name at that period. About the Mer-en-ra example I am inclined to believe that it is perhaps contemporary with the king whose name it bears, for it is of glazed pottery, and closely resembles in style and technique a very small and distinctive class of scarab-seal which has been recently found in association with button-shaped seals in graves of the intermediate period between the end of the Old Kingdom and the beginning of the Twelfth Dynasty.112 That scarabs sometimes bear the names of two or more kings, is also another proof that we cannot always treat of them as contemporary with the kings whose names they bear. Thus scarabs are known of Thothmes I, III, and Setŷ I, of Thothmes III and Usertsen III, of Men-kau-ra and Thothmes III.

It seems clear, therefore, that scarabs were not employed in Egypt before the end of the Sixth Dynasty, and then only very rarely. At the beginning of the Twelfth Dynasty their use was still very restricted, but at the middle of that dynasty they came into general use very quickly, and by the time of Amenemhat III they seem to have been widespread in Egypt. From that time onwards to the end of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty the history of Egyptian scarab-seals can be traced in an unbroken line; after the latter period they became very scarce, and finally disappear early in Roman times.

Geographical range of Egyptian scarab-seals.

Many Egyptian scarab-seals have been found in regions other than the Nile Valley. In Syria they have been turned up in plenty. In Cyprus, Rhodes, the Aegean Islands and the Greek mainland, numerous examples have been found. They have also been discovered at Crete, in Italy and Sardinia, on the north coast of Africa, and in Babylonia,—in all places in fact that had trade relations with the Egyptians.

Varieties of Shape.

The period to which a scarab belongs may often be determined from its shape and the markings on the back of the beetle; hence it is important to carefully note the varieties of form which occur. In fig. 58 will be seen a specimen of a scarab-beetle (the real Scarabaeus sacer113) with the nomenclature of its various parts described: these names will be used in later references.

Pre-Middle Kingdom.

The earliest examples known are of pottery, glazed, small in size and somewhat rough in modelling. The lines are coarse, but distinguish the head, prothorax and body, with elytra marked. The specimens figured, No. 59, are from El Mahasna, and are now in the museum at Cairo. Probably they may be dated, the discoverer tells me, to the rise of the Middle Kingdom, just before the Eleventh Dynasty. The example bearing the name of Mer-en-ra (fig. 56) is of this class.

The Twelfth Dynasty.

Three varieties of form are characteristic of the Twelfth Dynasty. The earliest, dated approximately to the reigns of Usertsen I and Usertsen II, show the beetle carefully modelled, with clypeus (fig. 60), prothorax and elytra, as well as the legs, well defined. Just later, about the time of Amenemhat III, a more decorative and conventional style appears, in which, while the lines are treated with more freedom, and small embellishments are introduced for ornamental purposes as in fig. 61, the form and details of the beetle are nevertheless well preserved. A common form of this date is shown in fig. 62: it is noticeable that the elytra are not outlined, but the marking of the head, eyes, and legs appears as in the previous examples. This type, with slight variations, perseveres, being traceable through the Hyksos period, and reflected in specimens of the early Eighteenth Dynasty.

The closing years of the royal line of the Middle Kingdom, commonly called the Twelfth and Thirteenth Dynasties, are marked by a special variety of beetle, which has a high back (particularly at the prothorax, where the scarab is thickest) and a narrow waist, produced by an indent on either side at the point where the prothorax and elytra adjoin. The head shows clypeus and eyes: the legs are usually shown in outline only, while the elytra are not marked. There is a second type, characteristic also of these times, which is in reality a development from earlier forms, as may be seen by comparing the example in fig. 64 with that previously illustrated in fig. 60. The tendency to decorative effect seen in this case is further exemplified by a number of scarabs which seem to follow the prototype of fig. 61, though failing to preserve the quality of the lines and cutting.

The Hyksos Period.

As previously mentioned, the type of back in which no elytra are shown remains the common variety through the Hyksos period. A short notch on each side indicates the point of division of the prothorax from the body, and in the example shown in fig. 65 the legs are suggested only. The head and clypeus are plain; the eye is sometimes represented. A decorative effect is produced in some instances, as in fig. 66, by representing hairy legs upon the back of the beetle. A unique example for the period is illustrated in fig. 67, where the back is scored with lines diagonally in each direction. Another typical form is shown in fig. 68, in which the threading holes are supported by a ring carved with the scarab, while the beetle itself is developed apparently from the type in fig. 63. In such scarabs the hairy legs upon the back occasionally may be noted. Another Hyksos type characteristically represents the human head (fig. 69, and compare the scarab of King Apepŷ figured in Plate I) upon the body of the scarab with or without the legs over the back.

The Eighteenth Dynasty.

With the close of the Hyksos period there is no discontinuity in the forms of scarab-backs commonly represented, but there is a marked incoming of new motives. Fig. 70 well shows the survival in the early Eighteenth Dynasty of the plain-bodied scarab which we have seen surviving throughout the earlier periods. Marks hitherto naturalistic are seen to be becoming conventional or decorative, but the form both in outline and in section is well preserved. In fig. 71, however, there is seen a new type, characterised by the oval base, the curving of the lines separating the prothorax from the body, and a superiority of technique evidenced both by symmetry and firm cutting. Fig. 72 illustrates a development of this tendency in a highly-finished and decorative specimen, in which ornamental feeling now predominates for the first time over the naturalistic. The support of the thread-hole survives in this instance in the decoration, while the legs overspread upon a broader margin to the base. The date of this example is Amenhetep I. But the typical form of the middle Eighteenth Dynasty is illustrated by the example shown in fig. 73, which is dated by the name of Hatshepsut. The head and back are well shaped in the section, while the clypeus and head are clearly and exquisitely cut. The prothorax is rounded at the base, while in the forepart of the elytra a small notch is indicated in the wing case on each side. The legs are sometimes well modelled, at other times indicated only in outline. A variation is illustrated in fig. 74, which dates from the time of Amenhetep III.

The Nineteenth Dynasty.

With the advent of the Nineteenth Dynasty the tendency to enlarge the base, and the spreading legs upon it and around the scarab, becomes typical of the period, as illustrated in figs. 75, 76. Another numerous class is of pottery, glazed as before, in which the head is elongated while the prothorax and elytra are not outlined. A downward notch on either side of the forepart of the wing cases, however, indicates the separation of the prothorax from the body. The legs stand high, but project only a little (fig. 77). During the reign of Rameses the Great an interesting decorative motive is introduced in a few examples, of which figs. 78, 79 are specimens of interest. The former, in the Amherst Collection, is of ivory, finely cut. Upon the base is the device of Rameses in his chariot, while upon the back is the outline of the beetle, filled in with his cartouche and emblems. During the same period the human head upon the scarab body makes its reappearance as a device for decoration.

The Ethiopian dominion.

With the Ethiopian dominion a ram’s head (the emblem of Amen-ra) frequently is found upon the beetle body (fig. 80); while sometimes, as shown in fig. 81, the body of the scarab is replaced by the familiar Hathor head with uraei on either side.

The subjects engraved on scarab-seals.

The subjects engraved on Egyptian scarab-seals may be divided into several well-defined groups. Firstly, there are those which bear hieroglyphic inscriptions. Secondly, there are those which bear figures of men, animals, or flowers; and thirdly, those which bear geometrical designs, coil and rope patterns, etc.

I. Hieroglyphic inscriptions.

For the purposes of study the first group may be subdivided into: (1) those which are inscribed with the names of kings and other royal personages; (2) those which bear the names of officials and private people; (3) those which have titles without names; (4) those which represent the names or figures of deities, and (5) those which bear good wishes, mottoes, and magic formulae.

(1) Royal names.

The largest class of these objects bear the names and titles of the Egyptian kings; they are consequently most valuable for the illustrations they afford of Egyptian history: some of these names being scarcely, if at all, known except from these sources. The information they convey is, of course, usually very laconic, but sometimes the names are coupled with some facts connected with them, such as that the king is the son of a certain prince (Pl. X, 2), or that he is born of a queen (Pl. X, 3), or that he is beloved of some god (Pl. XXX, 22), or that he has conquered the foreigners (Pl. XXVIII, 10).

(2) Private names.

Scarab-seals bearing seals of officials and private persons form the second largest class. They usually give one or more titles of the official, together with the personal name. The earliest example known is one in the Amherst Collection, bearing the name of the “Mayor Tahutihetep,” from a tomb at El Bersheh, and the date of it is Usertsen II (Pl. XI, 15). They were common during the late Twelfth Dynasty and early intermediate period; they occur fairly often during the first half of the Eighteenth Dynasty, but are rarely found after that date. Frequently these private scarabs are decorated with a scroll pattern or other ornament, often very beautifully executed.

(3) Titles.

A very small number bear titles without personal names, such as “the courtier” (Pl. XLI, 20), “the governor of the royal city” (Pl. XLI, 22), “the priest,” and “the mayor.” These are all of a late date (Twenty-sixth Dynasty), and are very rare.

(4) Names or figures of deities.

Names or figures of deities engraved on scarabs are common, but they are mostly of the principal gods and goddesses of Egypt, such as Amen, Amen-Ra (Pl. XLI, 18), Ptah (Pl. XLI, 13), Khensu, Isis, Hathor (Pl. XLI, 5), Mut, Horus (Pl. XLI, 10), and Set (Pl. XLI, 15). These date from the beginning of the Eighteenth onwards to the Twenty-sixth Dynasty.

(5) Good wishes, mottoes, and magic formulae.

Scarabs bearing good wishes, mottoes, and magic formulae are numerous. Some of them not only give the good wishes, but even the names of the persons from whom they emanated and to whom they were sent. Thus the inscription on one in the Petrie Collection reads: “May Ptah give a Happy New Year, from the Prince Shashanq to his mother Ka-ra-ma-ma” (Pl. XL, 8). Others give simply the words, “A Happy New Year” (Pl. XL, 2), or “May Bast give a Happy New Year” (Pl. XL, 3). Some read, “If Amen is behind, there is no fear” (Pl. XXXIX, 27), while a little plaque in the Hood Collection says, “I am true of heart” (Pl. XL, 21).

II. Figures of men and animals, etc.

Many scarab-seals bear the figures of men and animals, the principal animals figured being the lion, bull, cynocephalus, horse, and gazelle. Birds are also often engraved, the hawk, the emblem of Horus, being the commonest. Serpents are very common, and we also occasionally find combinations of serpents with animals, sphinxes, griffons, and sometimes beetles and locusts (see Pl. XXV). Flowers, such as the lotus, are frequently found engraved on these seals.

Hunting scenes on scarab-seals appear for the first time during the Hyksos period, and a beautifully cut specimen of this date is in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford (Pl. XXV, 26). It represents a king clad in a striped loin-cloth with fringed edge, and wearing a curiously-shaped head-dress. Armed with a bow and arrows, he hunts three ibex-gazelles and a lion among bushes of a desert wady. To a later period, probably not earlier than the Nineteenth Dynasty, belong the common hunt scarabs of the types figured in Pl. XLII, 33-39. The first and rarest type (Pl. XLII, 33) shows a hunter with lions and cheetahs chasing a gazelle. The second and commonest type represents an archer hunting the lion and other desert animals (Pl. XLII, 35). The third type is more elaborate, and depicts the hunter riding in a chariot drawn by one or more horses (Pl. XLII, 37-39), while on other scarabs we sometimes see the huntsman overtaken by a lion, and lying flat on the ground, apparently slain (Pl. XLII, 34). The cutting of these Nineteenth Dynasty hunt scarabs is generally deep, and the subject is always more or less coarsely rendered: few specimens bear any trace of glazing, and when found it is always of an inferior kind, which has turned brown.

Coil and rope patterns.

Scarabs with ornamental devices, such as coils and twisted rope patterns engraved upon them, appear first about the reign of Usertsen I, and continued in use to the middle of the Eighteenth Dynasty, after which period they rarely occur. The date of any single specimen may generally be determined by the form of the back, but the glazing and general style of cutting is also important in this connection. Specimens of the late Twelfth and early Thirteenth Dynasties are often fine examples of ornamental art: they are generally designed with much care, and executed with wonderful minuteness and delicacy of touch. Finely worked specimens are also found of the time of Queen Hatshepsut and Thothmes III. A representative series of coil and rope-pattern scarabs is given in Pls. XVIII and XIX. The rope-patterns figured in Pl. XIX, 1-3, are of the Hyksos period, while those on Pl. XVIII, 1-15, 18, range in date from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Dynasties. The coil-patterns given in Pl. XIX, 4, 5, 9, are certainly of the Hyksos period, while the remainder of the coil patterns are mainly of the late Twelfth and Eighteenth Dynasties. Often the continuous loop coil was used to ornament the scarabs of kings and officials. The earliest example, indeed the earliest example of any coil-pattern in Egypt, is found on a scarab of Usertsen I, most exquisitely worked and fully developed (fig. 82).

For a long time past it has been thought that the spiral as a motive in decoration originated in the Nile Valley, and much misconception seems to prevail among archaeologists as to its occurrence in Egypt. Prof. Petrie says 114 that its earliest use in the country was for the decoration of scarabs, and he would trace the spiral motive back as far as the Fifth Dynasty. The single scarab that he instances, it is true, bears the prenomen of Dad-ka-Ra (Assa), but there is not the slightest reason to make one believe that this particular specimen is contemporaneous with the king whose name it bears; the whole style of it, on the contrary, clearly shows that it belongs to no earlier a date than the Eighteenth Dynasty. Prof. Petrie also attributes a number of scarabs bearing coil, hook and link ornamentation to the Sixth and Eighth Dynasties, but these have been conclusively shown by Fraser 115 and Griffith 116 to be in reality post rather than pre Twelfth Dynasty. The fact is that the spiral has not yet been found on Egyptian monuments of an older date than the reign of Usertsen I. It was then used as a motive for decorating a ceiling in the tomb of a chieftain at Assiut.117 Employed architecturally it is not found again until the beginning of the Eighteenth Dynasty, when it was perhaps the most frequent motive for ceiling decorations in Theban tombs. In these tombs it is generally coloured yellow, to represent gold, and it is highly probable that the ornament itself originated in metal wire-work.118

At the same time as we find it occurring at Assiut, we also find the spiral used to decorate a scarab bearing the prenomen of Usertsen I (fig. 82). On this specimen the ornament is cut with very great care and regularity, indicating that the design was “a novelty, which had not yet become stereotyped 119 and reproduced as a matter of course.” The same exquisite workmanship is found on some scarabs bearing private names of the time of Amenemhat III or a little later; and here the continuous coil is combined with the lotus in a most beautiful design—a continuous coil, with flowers and buds in the spaces (Pl. XIV, figs. 21-26). It is difficult to believe that such a design sprang into being fully developed; but nothing has yet been found in Egypt at all like it of a period anterior to the Twelfth Dynasty; we must therefore search for the origin and development of the spiral motive in ornament elsewhere than in the Nile Valley. We do not yet know sufficiently the history of the Delta to say definitely that it did not originate there, but the probabilities are that we should look for its earliest employment and development outside the realm of Egypt.120 However that may be, the spiral was one of the most important of the motives of the decorative art of the ancient world. From very ancient times it was largely used by the peoples of Western Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean, and in “the wake of early commerce it was spread afield to the Danubian basin, and thence in turn by the valley of the Elbe to the Amber coast of the North Sea; there to supply the Scandinavian Bronze Age population with their leading decorative designs. Adopted by the Celtic tribes in the Central European area, it took at a somewhat later date a westerly turn, reached Britain with the invading Belgae, and finally survived in Irish art.”121

Material. Hard stones, obsidian, etc.

Scarabs are made of all kinds of material, from the hardest obsidian and amethyst, to soft steatite and even wood. In all ages they were made of hard stones. Obsidian, spotted diorite, beryl, white quartz, hematite, amethyst, serpentine, green and red jasper, as well as red carnelians, lapis lazuli, and turquoise were all in use from the end of the Twelfth Dynasty onwards to the Twenty-sixth. Rarely during the earlier periods were the bases of the hardest stone specimens engraved; they were usually covered with a gold plate, upon which the device or inscription was incised.

Gold, silver, etc.

Metal scarabs are very rare: a few of gold, and two or three of silver are known of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Dynasties, while about a dozen examples of bronze, of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties, are preserved in our museums.

Glass and cyanus.

At the middle of the Eighteenth Dynasty glass first appears, and of the reigns of the Amenheteps III and IV a number of seals have been found of a beautiful semitransparent deep blue glass. Of the late Eighteenth Dynasty a few specimens are known of cyanus, an alkaline silicate coloured a deep blue with carbonate of copper, and this material was used in increasing quantity till the Twenty-sixth Dynasty.

Schist and steatite.

Besides the hard stones enumerated above, shelly-limestone, schist, and steatite were also employed, and a few scarabs are known that were made of ivory. Steatite (or soapstone) was used in the manufacture of scarabs from the Twelfth to the Twentieth Dynasties, and by far the greater number of specimens are made of this material. It is a silicate of magnesium, soft, easily cut, and at the same time its superior compactness secures it from being readily broken or injured, and it is also capable of receiving a higher finish and much sharper impression of the subject than porcelain.

The Glazes.

The steatite scarabs were nearly always glazed, and the glazing often helps to indicate the date of a specimen. Only by a careful study of a large number of specimens can the eye be accustomed to differentiate between the varieties of glazing used at different periods. A very fine blue glaze of excellent quality is characteristic of the Twelfth Dynasty, and green glaze was also often used at this period. Many shades of blue and green glaze of very hard quality are found on the specimens of the Thirteenth Dynasty, and the few Hyksos scarabs that yet retain their colour show that a green glaze of a poorer quality was used at that period. The characteristic glazes of the early Eighteenth Dynasty are green, of a slightly greyish tint, generally of a fine surface, while those of the latter half of the dynasty, though coarser in quality, are often very brilliant in colour, and show a variety of tints ranging through all the shades of blue and green. Violet glaze was also employed at this period. The glazes of the Nineteenth Dynasty are often poor in quality, and generally of a dark yellowish-green colour, though sometimes blue and violet. The colour commonest during the Twentieth and later period are blue of various shades. It should be remarked here that the greatest number of scarabs are brown or white: the brown ones were invariably coloured green, and the white specimens blue.

4. Miscellaneous Forms of Seals

Miscellaneous forms.

Besides scarabaei, other forms of seals are met with in Egypt. Many of them have little models of men or animals on the back, as human-heads, symbolic eyes, hippopotami, lions, hedgehogs, ducks, fish, frogs, flies, crocodiles; while not a few are shaped like cowries.

A large number are also cut in geometrical forms, tablet-shaped, squares, rectangles, ovals, cubes, and cones. Like the scarabs, they are all pierced, through their long axis or diameter, with a narrow cylindrical hole, and were similarly mounted.

Animals as devices.

The specimen illustrated in fig. 83, now in the MacGregor Collection, bears a private name upon the base. The material is steatite, beautifully carved. The figure is that of a male, squatting in the familiar attitude, his hands upon his knees, and wearing a full wig. The date is late in the Twelfth Dynasty. Fig. 84 is another illustration of the same motive, dating from the Eighteenth Dynasty.

Animal forms are illustrated in the figs. 85, 86, 87, 88, 89. The first represents a naturalistic group, a cow suckling its calf, exquisitely cut in steatite. It is in the collection of Captain Timmins in Cairo. The design upon the base is analogous in its symmetry and the devices employed to the steatite stamp, fig. 94, in the same collection, which probably dates from about the Eleventh Dynasty. The two stamps, figs. 86 and 87, are very important, one of them being dated by the cartouche of Mentuhetep of the Eleventh Dynasty, the other by its analogy, and by the device of a running figure in line frequently employed upon the button-seals (fig. 42, and cf. fig. 28). Hornets are employed upon the Karnak three-sided seal, fig. 86, which is probably of earlier date, about the close of the Sixth Dynasty. A further example of this |Miscellaneous devices.| character, being a ram with horns, is in the MacGregor Collection: upon the base is an interesting pattern in coils, dating probably from the end of the Twelfth Dynasty. A great number of seals with cats (fig. 88), hedgehogs, hippopotami (fig. 89), and fish (fig. 90), date from the time of Thothmes III in the Eighteenth Dynasty, while those with ducks (figs. 91, 92), frogs, and flies, seem to be slightly later, dating from the reign of Amenhetep III.

A number of large seals are oval in form; one of these, with a device of animals incised upon the back, shown in fig. 93, bears upon the base the blundered cartouche of Amenemhat III. One of rectangular form (fig. 94) is rather of the nature of a stamp, being without decoration upon the back other than the necessary suspension hole in the attachment, while upon the base is the device previously described as belonging to the period which precedes the Middle Kingdom—between the Sixth and Eleventh Dynasties, from its analogy to the button-seals of that time. Other stamps are illustrated in figs. 95 and 96, having oval bases. They date from the Seventeenth Dynasty, bearing the names of Seqen-en-ra and Se-Amen. Another stamp (fig. 97) of larger size, has a simple handle down the middle of the back. The device in this case represents a number of captives or votives below the emblem of Anubis. This class of stamp, used generally for the sealing up of tomb-doors, as in the case of the tomb of Thothmes IV at Thebes, seems to date from the Eighteenth Dynasty. Fig. 98 represents another common form of the same period, itself dating to the reign of the emblem upon it, Thothmes III. A less usual class, dating from the Twelfth Dynasty, is represented in fig. 99. The back in this instance is plain, the form of the stamp resembling a slice from a sphere, with the device upon the plane face. A hole pierces the thickness. Figs. 100 and 101, represent other objects of this class, which from its Aegean analogies is of peculiar importance. The former specimen is dated, from an inscription on its back, to the reign of Usertsen III; the coil device is employed in each case. Two interesting examples are shown in figs. 102 and 103, the one being of the Eighteenth Dynasty, from its cutting and its glaze, the other of the Nineteenth Dynasty, from the cartouche of Rameses II incised upon it. A late example is that shown in fig. 104, and is a common type of the period of the Saïte renaissance in the Twenty-sixth Dynasty. The inscription gives the name of Tahuti son of Aahmes, chief of the scribes of the temple. It is of pottery, glazed green, and is in the Collection of Captain Timmins.

Two typical stamps of the Thirtieth Dynasty, one in bronze, the other in pottery, are pictured in figs. 105 and 106. They are both without device upon the plain handle of suspension. The one fig. 105 bears the name of the Royal son Za-hapi-amen; the other bears the name of king Kheper-ka-Ra, otherwise Nekht-neb-ef, with whom the list of Egypt’s kings comes to a close.

5. Signet-Rings

Signet-rings.

The signet-ring was called in Egyptian zebat (var., pl. Coptic: ). In its earliest form it consisted of (a) a perforated bezel, the part that bears the inscription or device, and (b) a hoop or wire which runs through the bezel and round the inside of the finger. The bezel was generally a separate piece of stone or metal, and when that was the case, it was generally encircled by a metal band (funda) and pierced so that it formed a swivel ring.

Their history.

The earliest examples that we know of are not older than the middle of the Twelfth Dynasty, but from that period onwards they are fairly common in Egypt. A number were found by M. de Morgan, at Dahshûr, of the date of Usertsen III to Amenemhat III, and these are all of one type: a scarab threaded on a piece of gold wire, the ends of which are twisted round several times on the back of the hoop (fig. 107). At a somewhat later period we find the gold wire thickened in the middle to lend additional strength, and the two ends thrust into the perforation of the scarab. The specimen illustrated (fig. 108) dates from the Thirteenth Dynasty. A second type of this period is shown in fig. 109. Here the scarab is mounted in a gold funda and the perforation is threaded by a wire, the ends of which are wound tightly round the hoop, which is made of a separate piece of metal. The same form survives during the Hyksos period (see Pl. I, ring of King Apepŷ), and on to the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (fig. 110, and the ring of Hor-em-heb, Pl. I). With the beginning of the Eighteenth Dynasty another form appears, that of a plain metal ring with the outer surface of the bezel flat and the inner curved (fig. 111). This form was rare during the earlier reigns of the dynasty, but common under Amenhetep III and Akhenaten (see ring of Akhenaten, Pl. I), and it survives to the present day. At the time of Thothmes III, a ring consisting of a plain hoop beaten out into a lozenge shaped plate occurs (Pl. XXIX, 31), but it is a very rare form until after the Twentieth Dynasty. With the reign of Amenhetep III, pottery rings of all forms are found, and these are very common till the beginning of the Nineteenth Dynasty.

Pottery rings, with long bezels, as shown in figs. 112 and 113, appear first at the end of the Twentieth Dynasty, and continue on till the end of the Twenty-third. The examples of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty are of several forms, the commonest being the plain hoop beaten out into a rectangular or lozenge-shaped plate which bears the inscription. Other forms give the outer surface of the bezel flat and the inner curved, as in figs. 114 and 115: the one being a ring of a priest of Khufu, named Nefer-ab-ra; the other that of a priest of Tahuti, named Hor-se-ast. A rarer form is that illustrated in fig. 116, where the flat engraved plate is welded on to a plain hoop.

DESCRIPTIONS

OF THE

SPECIMENS FIGURED IN THE PLATES.

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