INTRODUCTIONTOTHE STUDY OF EGYPTIAN SEALS.

General Remarks on Egyptian seals.

There are few small objects of antiquity which present themselves so often to the traveller’s notice in Egypt, as the little seals of stone, pottery and other material, carved in various forms and engraved on their base, or around their circumference, with an ornamental device or brief hieroglyphic inscription. These seals are found in a variety of forms; some of them are cylindrical in shape, others are button-shaped, but by far the greater number are carved to represent the scarabaeus beetle standing upon an elliptical base, the under side of which is engraved with the device or inscription intended to be impressed upon the sealing clay. The specimens of this last variety of seal are universally known as “Scarabs.”[1]Like the gems of Greece and Italy, Egyptian seals are generally found in excellent preservation; other and larger antiquities usually show on their face the signs of weathering, or they bear the marks of mutilation by man, butthese interesting little monuments of a long past age often continue to this day as perfect in their finish and delicate workmanship as when they first left the hands of the ancient lapidary. The soil of Egypt literally teems with them. Thousands have been found among thedébrisof long deserted and ruined towns and temples; the fellah often turns them up in the soil whilst ploughing his fields, and rich harvests of these little objects have been gathered by the antiquary from the myriad tombs that line the desert edge on both sides of the Nile from Alexandria and El Arîsh to Aswân. Outside the boundaries of the Nile Valley also, Egyptian seals are frequently discovered; and in our museums are to be seen specimens from Italy, Sicily, Cyprus and the Greek Islands, as well as from the Eastern shores of the Mediterranean, and even from as far afield as Nineveh and the valley of the Euphrates.

Clay impressions of seals.

Besides the actual seals, pieces of fine clay bearing impressions of them are often brought to light by the excavator; some of these served as sealings to jars of wine, honey, etc., whilst others had been affixed, like modern seals of wax, to documents written on papyrus or leather. The documents to which some of them had been attached have, unfortunately, too often perished from decay, or they have been consumed by fire, but in the stamped clay may still nearly always be seen the holes for the string, or the markings of it, by which the seal was fixed to the document: in some instances even the string itself remains. These sealings are usually unearthed in excellent preservation, and they are consequently as useful for the purposes of study as the seals themselves.

Importance of the study of Egyptian seals.

To the student of the history and civilization of ancient Egypt the importance of these seals and “sealings” is very great; to him they are as the coins and gems to the student of Ancient Greece and Rome. Their range in date is greater than that of any other class of inscribed monument; the earliest appear as far back as the very dawn of History, and these little objects present from that period onward an unbroken series of such length and completeness that they afford a most valuable illustration of the early history of the Nile Valley. In some cases they supply the outline of a portion of history that was otherwise almost wholly lost. To them we owe most of our information regarding the earliest dynasties. For much of our knowledge of the period intervening between the end of the Twelfth and the beginning of the Eighteenth Dynasties we are also indebted to the same class of monument, while small scarab-shaped seals are as yet the only extant evidence of several of the Hyksos kings. Their value as corroborative evidence to other historical data must not be overlooked, nor can certain classes of them be lightly cast aside as bric-à-brac by the archaeologist who sets himself the task of solving, or of inquiring into, the many problems that have lately arisen concerning the early people of the Mediterranean region. To the student of Ancient Art also they afford a most happy illustration of the ever-varying styles in vogue in successive reigns, and their study, as will be seen in the following pages, often enables us to obtain those glimpses into the manners and customs of the ancient Egyptian people which so wonderfully help to elucidate our view of bygone days and men.

2.Importance of the Seal in Ancient Times.

Importance of the seal in ancient times.

It is very difficult for us, especially for those of us who are not familiar with Eastern civilization, to realize the great importance that was attached to the seal by the peoples of the Ancient World. It was far more of a necessity in everyday life to the people of antiquity than are our seals to us, or locks and keys to a modern householder. We still use the seal, it is true, for our legal documents, sometimes for our letters, for our post-bags, and occasionally for sealing up a room. Our Ministers of State have their Seals of Office, our Corporations and Companies have their registered official seals, and in our Coronation ceremonies there is the investiture of the Sovereign with the Royal Signet Ring. But all these uses of the seal are as ancient as the pyramid-builders of Memphis. When we use the signet for sealing our letters or our legal documents, we are but following in the footsteps of the Ancient Egyptian, who, many hundred years before the time of Moses, employed the seal for the same purpose. When our Ministers of State receive from the Sovereign their Seals of Office, they are but following a custom that prevailed in Egypt as early as the Fourth Millennium before Christ; and when Edward the Seventh was recently invested with the Royal Signet Ring at his Coronation, he was but conforming to a ceremonial act that was recorded by the rulers of the Nile Valley four thousand years before William the Norman set foot on the shores of Britain.

But in ancient times the seal was used for manypurposes for which later inventions have proved more convenient. At the present day, when closing our doors, we generally lock them by a spring-bolt, and only attach a seal on very rare occasions. Locks and keys, however, are comparatively modern inventions, for the most ancient in Egypt are not older than the Roman period; and what locks and keys are to us, seals were to the people of the Old World. In ancient times, whenever a man left his home he always sealed up such parts as contained stores or other valuable property, so that they might be rendered secure from the attacks of thieves or slaves. In like manner boxes containing clothes or personal ornaments, and jars containing wine or oils, were kept under seal. The words meaning “to close” and “to seal” were in Egyptian[2]synonymous; indeed, to place a thing “under seal” was an ancient expression equivalent to the modern one of keeping a thing “under lock and key.”

To secure property from theft was, however, only one of the many uses of the seal; it was employed in other equally important ways. In Western countries, where writing has now become a universal accomplishment, a person’s written signature is sufficient to give authority to a document, but in ancienttimes a seal or signet was a necessity to anyone possessed of even the smallest amount of property, for without it no legal or other writing could be attested. Herodotus (I, 195) mentions that everyone in Babylonia carried a seal, and the same remark would apply with equal truth to Egypt. In England, from the Norman Conquest to the time of the taking effect of the original Statute of Frauds (1677), the seal was always used to make a writing valid and binding, and in Scotland every freeholder was required by law to have a registered seal.[3]At the present day an Eastern, when sealing a letter, smears the seal, not the document, with the sealing-substance, and illiterate persons will sometimes use the object nearest at hand, such as their own finger, which they daub with ink, and press upon the paper therewith. In Babylonia the finger-nail was sometimes impressed into the clay as a seal; while in America, in comparatively recent times, the eye-tooth impressed upon the wax has been used for attesting a document (1 Wash. Va. 42, quoted inAmerican Law Review, Vol. XXVIII, p. 25). The right hand smeared with ink and impressed upon a parchment was often used in mediaeval times in place of a signature, and this, with the seal impressed beside it, gave rise to the modern legal expression, “Witness my hand and seal.” The Sultan’s cipher, which appears on the coinage and official documents of the Turks, is said to have originated in this way. The Republic of Ragusa concluded a commercial treaty with the Ottomans in 1395, by which it placed itself under their protection, and it issaid that Murad signed the treaty, for lack of a pen, with his open hand, over which he had smeared some ink, in the manner of Eastern seals—a veritable sign-manual. (Stanley Lane-Poole,Turkey, p. 35.) In ancient times, however, the document was rolled up and tied with a piece of string, the knot of which was covered with a pellet of clay and sealed. It was not only in Egypt that this was so, but in all countries of the ancient world; in Babylonia and Assyria as well as in Greece and Italy. A written signature would have been of no avail to attest a document; a seal had always to be used. Doubtless in the earliest times only the most powerful persons possessed seals, but as civilization advanced the officers of the administration came to use, besides their own personal seals, official ones for government purposes. Thus it was that the seal, being the real instrument of the power and authority of an office, came to be used as the symbol of it, and the delivery of an official or State seal to an individual, gave to that individual the authority and power to execute the rights and duties of his office.

The various links in the history of the seal which connect its original employment for securing the contents of jars, to its latest one for transferring authority from one person to another, are all preserved, and form a most interesting object lesson in “social evolution.” The seal is, indeed, so intimately associated with the early history of civilization, that it is probable that its origin goes back to the very institution of the right of private property. Its early history is full of interest. If we turn to any of the literatures of the Old World—whether it be the Egyptian or Babylonian, theHebraic or Assyrian, the Greek or Roman, it is the same; we find in each and all of them abundant passages concerning the importance of the seal and the various uses that it was put to. Further, if we study these references, we discover that the signification of these little objects was everywhere the same, and if passages were selected from the Egyptian writers regarding the uses of the seal, it would be easy to parallel them all from the works of any of the other Old World peoples. We ought, however, before discussing the various uses of the seal, to inquire into its origin.

Origin of the seal.

In hisHand-book of Engraved Gems,[4]King has stated his belief that the use of the seal was almost coeval with the very institution of the right of private property, and this seems to be well borne out by what we actually know of its early history. All the evidence from Babylonia and Egypt available as to its original use appears to point in one direction, that it was first employed for securing household stuff and other moveable property. In the earlier stages of civilization this consisted mainly of grain, honey, etc., always liable to be pilfered by the dishonest slave, or by smaller hands addicted to picking and stealing. If the proprietor, therefore, wished to keep his stores of food intact, it was necessary that he should adopt some means ofchecking the pilferer, and the idea early occurred to him that if he placed his little store in a jar or other vessel, and covered the mouth of it with a plaster of mud or clay, it might be protected to a certain degree against the thief. But merely plastering the mouth with mud or clay was not enough to preserve the contents from a skilful plunderer, for he might easily, and without fear of immediate detection, remove a capping, steal the contents of a jar, put on another plaster of mud, and leave no trace of his theft until the jar was opened by its owner. It was obvious therefore that a capping of clay alone was not sufficient. Now it is probable that the mud used in the process of covering the mouth of the vessel would often be rolled or smeared flat with a piece of stick, a joint of a reed, or a flat-bottomed pebble. Many of these objects must have had natural markings on them which would have left impressions on the clay, while these impressions, we can hardly doubt, were early noticed by the primitive store owner, and their condition served to tell him whether or not his closed jars had been tampered with. In this connection it is interesting to note that Aristophanes (Thesmo., 424-428), when referring to the custom of securing doors by sealing them, alludes to certain [Greek: thripêdesta sphragidia], which were worm-eaten bits of wood used as rude seals. He speaks of them as having supplanted the simple seals of olden days, but they ought rather to be considered as a return to the early type of “reed” seal. (Muller,Archäol., I. Kunst., 97, 2.) From the natural markings upon the objects employed to smooth the clay, the transition was easy to some definite device scratched aroundthe circumference of the stick or reed, or upon the surface of the stone or pebble, by the owner, and appropriated to himself as his own peculiar mark. But as these markings or devices would have had little weight with a determined thief, we can hardly doubt that, in Babylonia at any rate, they became early imbued with amagicalsignification: so that their real power would be moral rather than physical. The reasoning of the lawyers of the Middle Ages regarding the sealing of contracts was that asealattracts and excites caution in illiterate persons, and thereby operates as a security against fraud.[5]

The simple scratchings that we find on so many of the early Egyptian pots were the possessors’ marks; indeed, King contends that “this instinct of possession extending itself to the assumption of exclusive ownership in certain configurations of lines, or rude delineations of natural objects, is a universal impulse of man’s nature, and one found existing amongst all savage nations when first discovered, wheresoever the faintest trace of social life and polity have begun to develop themselves.” A great number of these signs Professor Petrie has preserved in his various records of explorations. (Cf.hisNaqada, p. 44.) Thus the Red Indian has besides the tribal mark, that of the individual (his specialtotem), wherewith to identify his own property, or the game he may kill. The South Sea Islander carries the tattooed pattern that distinguishes his particular family, imprinted upon his own skin, and also draws the same upon his credentials like a regular coat of arms. It is therefore in these markings firstly scratched on pots, and next on rude seals, that wehave the very beginnings of writing; but a long period probably elapsed before these primitive signs were combined together to form words. The designs on these seals were probably at first rough configurations of lines, which sufficiently served their purpose if they could be readily identified by the owner; but after a time these primitive figures seem to have given place to rude delineations of natural objects which expressed the name of the owner, like the Greek coins of Rhodes (a rose); of Melitaea (a bee), and were consequently looked upon as his particular mark. We have not as yet got back in Egypt to such primitive forms, but on Greek gems and coins thistype parlant, “figured speech,” is well known.

The original forms of the two great groups of Egyptian seals we have in the piece of notched reed and in the small scratched pebble; the first the true prototype of the cylinder, both in form and in mode of application; the second as clearly the original of the stamp seal. Simple as the invention of these two forms and the art of sealing may now appear, the discovery that an impression of a seal could be obtained by pressing it on clay or other plastic substance was nevertheless one of the most momentous that has yet been made, and the seal-impression furthermore suggested the idea of decoration in bas-relief. From the invention of the simple seal to the complex printing-press with its moveable types appears a long way to travel, but that we have the germ of this great invention in the simple seal is obvious when we come to think of it. The old Egyptian or Babylonian who first took an impression of his signet on a lump of plastic clay, had discovered theprinciple of printing, though it took the human mind many hundred years before the next great step was made, that of smearing some black or coloured substance upon the seal and taking a “print” of it on plaster, as in the tomb of Thothmes IV (circaB.C.1400), and in ink on a papyrus of the Ptolemaic age.

It has been suggested in a preceding paragraph that the original use of the seal was for securing stores of food from dishonest servants; and this statement is corroborated by the fact that the earliest “sealings” that have been found in Egypt are from jars that were used for storing wine, honey, grain, and other food stuffs. Figures 1 and 2 represent two jars found by M. de Morgan in a First Dynasty cemetery in Upper Egypt,[6](circaB.C.3500), and the general system of sealing jars and large vessels may be clearly seen from these examples. The mouth of the jar, it will be observed, was first covered by an inverted plate or cup of pottery (fig. 1), in order to prevent the wet clay (the [Greek: gê sêmagtris], “sealing earth,” of the Greeks) used in the process of closing the mouth from falling into the jar. Upon and around this was plastered a high cone of clay (fig. 2), mixed with palm fibre, and carefully smoothed, so as to take easily the impressionof the cylinder seal, which was rolled across it at right angles. Generally two impressions of the same seal are found on each clay cone, but sometimes two or more impressions upon the same cone occur fromdifferentseals. This shows the great care that was given in early times to secure the contents of a vessel from thievish servants, a fact which is emphasised by our sometimes finding that a jar had often twoseparatesealings, one below the other, the outer coat being put on while the inner one was still damp. “Thus,” writes Professor Petrie of some clay cones of thiskind which he found at Abydos, “often a quite illegible cone may yet yield a good inscription by carefully knocking away the outer coat.”[7]

Figs. 1 and 2.TWO JARS OF THE FIRST DYNASTY, TO ILLUSTRATE THEANCIENT METHOD OF SEALING.

Figs. 3 and 4.

This system of sealing large jars with high clay cones apparently lasted on till the beginning of the sixteenth centuryB.C.; then another kind of sealing is met with. In the place of the high clay cone, a clay cap with flat top was used, the flat top and sometimes the sides being impressed with a wooden stamp. Later still, at the time of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, the early inverted cap or plate gave way to a pottery cap or bung, which was secured in place by string or linen bands, and covered with a rounded cap of plaster. There is an interesting specimen of a complete jar neck bearing the stamp of Amasis, with clay and plaster sealing still fixed to it, found at Tell Defenneh (see figs. 3 and 4); it is important as showing the veryelaborate system of sealing jars at that time in vogue. Firstly, a large bung of pottery (fig. 3), made hollow, was put into the mouth of the jar. This was then fastened down by linen bands, the ends of which were tied up in the middle, and a lump of sealing clay fixed upon it and impressed with six different seals of inspectors. Although this clay had crumbled and been washed out by rains in the course of ages, it still left a cast in the plaster showing the seals as they appear in fig. 4. After the six inspectors had each put his seal on it, the jar was sent out to the plasterer, who capped the whole top with a head of plaster, and sealed it with the royal name in its oval-cartouche. Even these elaborate precautions, it would seem, did not suffice to secure the contents of this particular amphora from the thief, for the jar neck, as Professor Petrie remarks, is an instance of a successful attack upon the royal stores. The cap of plaster has been bored through just at the edge of the jar, and the large bung inside smashed through, so as to enable the thief to reach freely the wine. The piece of plaster broken out here is shown missing in fig. 4, though it was found in the jar; the hole just shows the edge of the neck, and was filled up with a scrap of the old plaster and a smear of new of a different quality; no attempt was made to imitate the missing part of the cartouche, and this probably raised the cellarer’s suspicion, and made him break off and preserve the whole jar neck as evidence. (Petrie,Defenneh, p. 72.)

This method of securing the contents of large jars and amphorae lasted on far into Roman times. Horace mentions as a test of a good tempered housemaster, that he did not go wild with passion even if he found that a seal of a wine jar had been broken. And even at the present day the traveller on the Nile may still see boats, at certain seasons of the year, floating down stream from Erment, Kûs, and other centres of the sugar industry, laden with molasses in peculiar jars (ballalîs), secured, in place of the early bung and the earlier inverted plates, by a plug of sugar cane leaves thrust into the mouth of the vessel, and plastered over with a thick cap of white clay.

Figs. 5, 6 and 7.JARS SHOWING METHOD OF SECURING CONTENTS.(From paintings in the tombs at Beni Hasan.)

For securing the contents of smaller vessels the Egyptians had another method. This was by stretching over the mouth a piece of skin or beaten metal, which was then firmly tied down by a cord, the two ends and knot of which were covered by a pellet of clay, and impressed by a small stamp or scarab (see figs. 5, 6, and 7).

Fig. 8.A MAN SEALING UP AHONEY JAR.(From a sculpture atAbusîr.)A.Z., Vol. xxxviii, Pl. v.

An illustration of a man actually engaged in the process of covering up a jar of honey has beenpreserved in a tomb at Abusîr; he is fastening the string around the vase, and above him is the legend,Khetem bati, “sealing honey” (see fig. 8).

The beautiful dolomite marble and carnelian vases found in the tomb of King Khasekhemui (circa3300B.C.) at Abydos are secured in this way. Each of these has a cover of thick gold foil fitted over the top, and tied down with a double turn of twisted gold wire, over the tie of which a small lump of clay is fixed, which in this instance has not been impressed with a seal, but merely pressed together by the fingers. Generally the pellet of clay to be “sealed” was placed on the top of the jar (as in figs. 5 and 7), but sometimes it covered the knot at the side (as in fig. 9). The same manner of securing the mouth of a jar still survives in the way our liqueur bottles, etc., are often sealed, and in the way we close our jam pots, except that in the latter case we no longer find it necessary to attach a seal.

Fig. 9.A SEALED JAR.(From a paintingin a tomb atMedûm.)

The contents of bags and sacks were also secured by means of the seal; a piece of cord was tied round the neck, the knot of which was immersed in a pellet of clay and “sealed” (see fig. 10). A large number of broken seals of this kind have been foundin Egypt, and sealed bags containing gold dust and other materials are often figured in the ancient paintings of the tombs. To the custom of sealing bags Job alludes (xiv, 17). In the story of Hor-ded-ef we read of certain midwives who had assisted in bringing into the world a child, being rewarded by the father with “a bushel of barley,” which is straightway sent to the brewhouse to be kept under the midwives’ seal. Our modern post bags are rendered secure from being examined by unauthorised persons in exactly the same manner.

Fig. 10.A SEALED BAG.(From a painting ina tomb at Medûm.)

The Ancient Egyptians, it has already been remarked, were unacquainted with the use of locks and keys, hence we find that they employed their seals for the purpose of securing the doors of their houses and storerooms. These latter, indeed, were termedKhetemu, “sealed rooms,” and they are frequently alluded to in the ancient inscriptions:[8]Such storehouses in foreign lands were provision depôts for the Egyptian troops or garrisons. Government storehouses were, of course, in charge of officials who kept them under their seals. Nebuaiu (circa1500B.C.), for instance, proudly boasts that the treasury of the Temple of Osiris was kept “under his signet ring,” and the Vezîr Rekhmara (circa1500B.C.) tells us that it was his duty to “seal up all the precious things in the temple of Amen,”[9]and that all the bags of gold dust and other valuables were “under hissignet.”[10]When a storeroom was opened, the official responsible for the things contained in it appeared in person and sealed it up again when the stores were taken out.

There are many passages in the papyri which tend to show how great was the care taken to prevent irresponsible hands from pilfering.[11]The storehouses of private people were probably in the care of the housewife, or some other woman of the household, for when scarab seals are discovered in graves, it has been noticed that they are usually found at the side of, or near to, the body of a female.[12]Thus it is probable that in Egypt, as in other countries, it was the matron of the household who had charge of the grain and other provisions, and her little string of seals has its direct lineal descendant in our modern housekeeper’s bunch of keys. “How happy the times,” wrote Pliny, “how truly innocent, in which no seal was ever put to anything; at the present day, on the contrary, our very food even and our drink have to be preserved from theft, through the agency of the ring.” The modern “wedding ring” originated in the custom of the man presenting his wife, on her marriage, with a seal, which she was to use for sealing up her stores of provisions, etc. At first these seals were worn suspended from a string of beads around the neck. Sometimes they were strung on a cord which was tied round thewrist, and at a later period they were secured to the finger by a piece of string or wire. This wire and seal developed into the signet-ring. Then, with the introduction of locks and keys, it was the key-ring that was given by the husband to his wife. These key-rings, however, were soon found to be too cumbersome to be worn with comfort on the finger, and so a plain band of metal was given to the bride with a key. “The key,” writes Cicero (Ph. 2. 28), “was given to the bride on entering her home, to signify that she was appointed mistress of the house (mater familias)”; it was, in fact, used by her to lock up her store-room, and in case she was divorced it was taken away from her. At the present day, if the ring is not forthcoming at a wedding, the key of the chancel door can be used instead.

Fig 11.

The manner of sealing doors was very simple. In the case of single doors a wooden peg with projecting head was fixed in the jamb and another in the door (see fig. 11). When the door was closed the two pegs would be near to one another, so that a piece of string could be easily tied round them. This string having been securely fastened by a knot, the knot was then covered with clay, and the clay impressed by seal, thus making it impossible to open the door without destroying the seal or removing the pegs.

Folding doors were secured by a sliding bolt, but such bolts of course gave no security against a thief, so they also were sealed. They were shaped as in fig. 12, with a groove running across thecentre; a piece of string was stretched across this groove, and then, after pellets of clay had been put on the two ends, it was sealed down as shown in the figure.

Fig. 12.

An interesting reference to this last method of sealing doors occurs in the well known inscription of Piankhy preserved in the Cairo Museum. This Ethiopian king, after his victorious journey through Egypt, goes to Heliopolis to present offerings of flowers, etc., to Ra, the famous god of that town. Proceeding to the shrine of the deity, Piankhy relates that “he stood alone,” that he “broke the seals” and “slid back the door bolt,” opened “the double doors” and saw his father Ra in the holy shrine. After performing certain ceremonies therein, he goes on to tell us that the doors were again shut, “clay was applied” to them, which was then sealed by the king’s own hand. Herodotus also, it may be remembered, refers to the Egyptian custom of sealing up doors, in the story of Rhampsinitus and the clever thief, who succeeded in pilfering the royal treasury by means of a loose stone in the wall of it. When the king happened to open the chamber, says the historian, he was astonished at seeing the vessels deficient in treasure, but he was unable to accuse anyone, as the seals were unbroken and the chamber well secured.

The sealings to tomb doors, the Egyptian’s “eternal habitation,” being required to be permanent, were muchmore elaborate.[13]After the mourners had retired, and the door had been closed, clay was smeared round the juncture of it with the lintel, jambs and threshold, and then stamped all over by the seal of the priest in charge.

As in the case of doors of houses and store-chambers, so also with boxes, the lids were sealed down to secure their contents.

Fig. 13.

On nearly all ancient Egyptian boxes that have been found are to be seen two knobs (or the holes into which they were fastened), one on the lid, the other on the box itself. Fig. 13 shows how these were placed, and with a piece of string, a lump of clay and a seal, it was an easy matter to secure the contents; all that had to be done was to follow the same process that has already been described for securing doors.

Fig. 14.A PAPYRUS ROLL, TIED UP AND SEALED.(This hieroglyph was used as a determinative of all abstract words from a veryearly period.)

With the advance of civilization, and the development of the art and practice of writing, the seal beganto be employed for documents also. Till very recent times writing has been an accomplishment of few except professional scribes, hence it was natural that seals which bore the personal badge or mark of the owner, began to be used by those who could not write their names for giving that authenticity and authority to a document which is now more usually conferred by a written signature. Legal documents were therefore attested by the seal, and a legal contract was known in Egypt by the nameKhetemt, “the sealed.”[14]But the method of attaching the seal to the document was different in ancient times to that of the present day. The old Egyptian, instead of impressing with his signet the surface of the sheet of papyrus, used to roll it up,[15]tie it round with string, and then, after knotting the string in the middle of the roll, he affixed the clay to the knot and sealed it (see fig. 14). Thusthe roll could not be opened, and consequently the writing of it could not be altered nor new matter introduced without the seal being first broken, and the mere breaking of the seal would be legal proof enough to show that the document had been tampered with. It is not till the Ptolemaïc period that there is an instance of a documentstampedwith ink,[16]although the stamp in paint has been shown to be as early as the Eighteenth Dynasty.[17]A familiar instance of the use of the seal for legal documents is given by the prophet Jeremiah. Having bought a field of Hanameel, he payed the owner seventeen shekels of silver for it; then subscribed the evidence and sealed it. This being done, he took the evidence of the purchaser, “both that which was sealed according to the law and custom and that which was open,” and gave it to Baruch in order that it might be put in an earthen vessel, and so preserved in case of any dispute. (Jeremiah xxxii, 9-14.)

But it was not only legal documents that were attested by the signet; letters also were sealed up by the sender before they left his hands,[18]and several such letters, with the seals still unbroken, have been found by the excavator. The aim of the signet in this connection was of course to afford proof of the identity of the sender, and to warrant the contents of the letter. The importance attached to the seal at present in the East is so great, that without one no document is regarded as authentic.

From the use for authenticating documents, the seal came to be employed for another purpose—that of authenticating the purity or weight of a piece of gold or other metal; the stamp upon the coin being the government guarantee of the fineness and weight of the piece of metal. It has often been supposed that the specimens of the scarab class of Egyptian seals were used as tokens of value, that they represented the small change of the Pharaohs. In support of this interpretation a remark of Plato, to the effect that “in Ethiopia engraved stones were used as money,” has often been quoted. It is of course true that the Egyptians had no coined money of their own before the time of the Macedonian Conquest; taxes were collected and salaries were paid in kind, and all trade was done by barter, as in Central Africa at the present day. The idea, however, that scarabs themselves were used for the purposes of barter, or as tokens of exchange, is not supported by the inscriptions, or by any of the scenes depicted on the monuments. But we do find, and this is very important, that during the Hyksos period (circa1700B.C.),[19]and later under Amenhetep III (circa1400B.C.),[20]theKhetemor “seal” is given as a measure of value, although here it is probable that it was not the seal itself that is meant, but theimpressionof it upon another substance. The Athenian General Timotheus, Polyaemus relates, being in want of money to pay his troops, “issued his own seal” for coin, and this substitute was accepted by the traders and market people confiding in his honour. This can only meanthatimpressionsof his signet on clay, or some other substance, were put into circulation as representatives of value, and so received by the sellers. It is in the impression of a seal or stamp upon a piece of gold or other metal that we have the origin of coined money.

The study of the early history of coined money is a most curious one. Rude peoples pass from barter to the use of metallic currency; and the most general article of wealth is taken as the standard to which, either as a multiple or a fraction, all other possessions are adjusted.[21]In Greece, as in Italy, the ox was the unit of value, and in Italy[22]a piece of metal was stamped with the impression of an animal (nota pecudum), whence it was termedpecunia,[23]but when and by whom such a stamp was first placed on “the bar or piece of metal it is, of course, impossible to say.” The Egyptian inscriptions, fortunately, throw some light on this subject, for as early at least asB.C.1700, akhetemis mentioned as a unit of value for metals, while “an ox” is valued as one seal. Furthermore, the wordkhetem, determined by an ox, actually occurs as a measure of value, and means a seal with the figure of an ox stamped on it, or an ox skin sealed.[24]

We have just seen that the affixing of a seal to a document gave to that document its validityand binding force, and it is now not difficult to realize that, being the real instrument of the power and authority of an office, it should have become the symbol of it. The delivery therefore of the seal or signet either by the king or by his minister, committed to the individual the authority and power to execute the rights and duties of his office. The Egyptian monarch himself was invested at his Coronation[25]with the Royal Signet,[26]upon which his name and titles were engraved; this was as important a part of the insignia of royalty as his sceptre or his crown. In an early text (circa2500B.C.) it is said that “Mer-en-Ra maketh his appearance as king, he hath taken possession of his signet (sah) and of his throne.”[27]The word for signet is hereSah(variantsandSah, note the necklace and cylinder seal as determinative), and the signet was repeatedly used in ancient Egypt to denote a man of noble rank, one who was allowed to carry a signet with the royal name engraven upon it. Osiris is namedSahu, “seal bearer” of the gods whom he has called into existence, and a hymn[28]calls him the gloriousSahuamong thesahus. The Prince Khnemhetep (2000B.C.), at Beni Hasan, says of himself that he wasdistinguished above all the king’s nobles(sahu); that is to say, the order of men bearing the signet or sign of investiture. A mummified person is also calledSahu, in virtue of investiture.[29]

The Great Seals of State were as important in ancient Egypt as they are in this country, and it was only by the king bestowing his own seal, or one of the Great Seals of State, on one of his subjects, that he could delegate his authority. In the Biblical account of Joseph we read, “and Pharaoh said unto Joseph, see, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand ... and made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.” That this ceremony was true, and that the giving of the seal or ring of office by the king, or by one of his ministers, on the appointment of a high government official, was indeed usual, is proved by several inscriptions: at the time of the middle of the Eighteenth Dynasty, Amenhetep III (1450B.C.) places “the two lands” in the “hands” of the Vezîr Ptahmes, and “the signet rings of the Horus” (i.e., the Sovereign) upon his fingers.[30]In a scene in the tomb of Hûy at Thebes, which is here (Pl. II) published for the first time, the Chancellor of King Tutânkhamen, 1350B.C., presents the gold signet ring of the office of Royal Son (i.e., Viceroy) of Ethiopia “to the Prince Hûy, in order that the office of the Royal Son of Ethiopia may be made to flourish.”

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 werekhetemtiu,[31]“sealers” (singularkhetemu, “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 thekhetemu, “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, thatseḥez,[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 ameror “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 (circa3000B.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 hadcharge 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 amer[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](circaB.C.2000) onwards the titlemer 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 personagein 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 theuhemor “Herald,” and in front of themer meshauor “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 hiskha[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 thebêt el mâlor treasury.

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