Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis, Series Archaeologica

The present study provides for the first time a comprehensive compilation and analysis of inscribed seals from two important phases in the history of the ancient Near East, the Early Dynastic and Akkadian periods. The material is presented in chronological and topical order. Major emphasis is given to the reading of seal inscriptions, which have been mostly disregarded in previous archaeological and art-historical studies. Information regarding the function of the seal impressions completes the picture. The analysis of this very important corpus of seals and seal impressions provides many insights into the social background, its development and the meaning of these objects in and for society.Cylinder seals played a major role in the daily life of the people living in the ancient Near East. Apart from the possibility of choosing a seal design, the owner could give his seal a personal touch by adding an inscription with his name, often followed by further specifications. This tradition which existed up into the first millennium B.C.E. began in the middle of the third millennium B.C.E., the point where the present study starts. Rulers and members of their families furnished their seals with inscriptions from the middle of the third millennium B.C.E. onwards only. They were preceded by officials, e.g. scribes, who operated in southern Mesopotamian cities like KiÅ and Fara and started placing inscriptions on seals about 100 years earlier. After this first occurrence the number of inscribed seals increased rapidly and their area of distribution spread to Susa and northern Mesopotamia within a short period of time. The seal inscriptions became more complex and more extensive. In the Akkadian period the tradition arose that high officials were granted seals from the king as a token of their loyalty.An all-embracing development of the seal inscriptions from the Early Dynastic to the Akkadian period can thus be traced by the compilation of a typology of seal inscriptions and in-depth analyses of their content and the positioning of the inscriptions with regard to the seal design. Combinations of seal design and inscription as well as seal design and material are examined in detail. Direct correlations between a depiction and an inscription can be established in cases where the seal owner or the commissioner belonged to the uppermost class of society. On the other hand, scholarly assumptions about correlations between materials used to manufacture Early Dynastic seals and their design (e.g. that seals belonging to women would show banquet scenes only on seals made of lapis lazuli) could be disproved.