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 (_circa_ 1700
B.C.),[19] and later under Amenhetep III (_circa_ 1400 B.C.),[20] the
_Khetem_ or “seal” is given as a measure of value, although here it is
probable that it was not the seal itself that is meant, but the
_impression_ of 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 mean
that _impressions_ of 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 termed _pecunia_,[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 as B.C. 1700, a [Egyptian
**] _khetem_ is mentioned as a unit of value for metals, while “an ox”
is valued as one seal. Furthermore, the word [Egyptian **] _khetem_,
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]
(_c_) _For Transference of Authority._
We have just seen that the affixing of a seal to a document gave to that
document its validity and 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 (_circa_ 2500 B.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 here [Egyptian **] _Sah_ (variants [Egyptian **] and [Egyptian
**] _Sah_, 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 named _Sahu_, “seal bearer” of the gods whom he has
called into existence, and a hymn[28] calls him the glorious _Sahu_
among the _sahus_. The Prince Khnemhetep (2000 B.C.), at Beni Hasan,
says of himself that he was distinguished 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 called _Sahu_, 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 (1450 B.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, 1350 B.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 were [Egyptian **] _khetemtiu_,[31] “sealers”
(singular [Egyptian **] _khetemu_, “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 the _khetemu_, “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, that [Egyptian **]
_seḥez_,[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 a
[Egyptian **] _mer_ or “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]
[Egyptian **] “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 (_circa_ 3000 B.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 [Egyptian **]
“Divine Sealer,” the priest who had charge 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 a _mer_[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] (_circa_ B.C. 2000) onwards the
title [Egyptian **] _mer 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 personage in 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 the _uhem_ or “Herald,” and in front of
the _mer meshau_ or “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 his _kha_[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 the _bêt el mâl_ or
treasury.
[Illustration: Fig. 15. THE OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE SEAL.
(From a painting in a tomb at Beni Hasan.)]
About the middle of the Twelfth Dynasty a great change appears to have
taken place in the political constitution of Egypt; we no longer hear of
the Chieftains of Nomes or Provinces, and it seems that the Government,
for a short time at least, became much more strictly centralized than it
had ever been before. With this centralization of the administration
several new offices were created, the provincial “Keepers of the (Royal)
Seal” appear to have been suppressed, and _adenus_, “wakîls” or
“deputies” of the Chief Keeper, appointed in their stead. The Treasury
Department, however, was still presided over by a single[57] “Keeper of
the Royal Seal,” who henceforth was one of the most important and
powerful personages in the realm;[58] he became, in fact, the Chancellor
of the Exchequer,[59] an Lord Chancellor, Keeper of the Seal.
Unfortunately we have no long inscription recording this great
official’s duties, as we have in the case of the Vezîr,[60] so it is
only by gathering a fact here and there from many sources that we can
obtain any idea of his multifarious duties. That he had charge of the
Government stores, and supervised everything connected with the _bêt el
mâl_ or Treasury, is certain;[61] he had also to be responsible for the
payment of all Government bills. If any important public monument had to
be erected,[62] or if any government business was to be undertaken, it
was his duty, together with his staff of assistants, to make all
necessary arrangements regarding the payment of the employés, which must
have been a most onerous task, when we remember that the Egyptians
possessed no coined money until after the time of Alexander the Great.
The supervision of the taxation of the country appears also to have been
placed in the Chancellor’s hands, and it was his custom, as it still is
with the heads of the departments of the various services of the
Khedive’s administration, to make an annual tour of inspection
throughout the length and breadth of the country.[63] In time of war a
number of his officers accompanied the military expeditions, and when a
town was plundered by the royal troops, they took possession of the
spoil, some of which was kept for the Treasury, while the rest was given
to the temples as an offering to the gods.[64]
But not only did the Egyptian Chancellor have charge of everything
connected with the Treasury, he seems also to have had a considerable
share of the responsibility of appointing various State officials. We
have already referred to the story of Joseph’s appointment to the
Vezîrate, in which case the Seal or Signet of office was given by the
king personally. With other officials, however, it seems to have been
the custom for the Chancellor to deliver the Seal, and this ceremonial
in a bureaucratic country such as Egypt then was, must have entailed a
vast amount of time. Possessing the authority to appoint high officers,
and also the means of controlling the State Treasury, it is no wonder
that these old Chancellors attained to a great degree of power, and
there seems reason to believe that more than one dynasty had its origin
in a Chancellor’s family.
So many and various were the duties of the Keeper of the (Royal) Seal,
that it is hardly matter for surprise if we find that he employed a
large staff of assistants to help him. Among these the [Egyptian **]
“Deputy of the Keeper of the (Royal) Seal,”[65] appears to have been the
most important. When his chief was absent from the capital on one of the
official tours of inspection through the country, this _adenu_ or
“deputy” was left in charge of the central office, and the duty
naturally devolved upon him of looking after the permanent staff of the
Treasury Department. This staff consisted of:—
(1) A [Egyptian **] “Chief Overseer of the Courtyard of the Keeper of
the (Royal) Seal,”[66] an official who was, I believe, deputed to
personally supervise everything that went in or out of the _Bêt el mal_
or Treasury. There was also
(2) A [Egyptian **] or “Overseer of the Courtyard of the Keeper of the
(Royal) Seal.”[67]
(3) A [Egyptian **] or “Overseer of the Courtyard of the Office of the
Keeper of the (Royal) Seal.”[68]
(4) Several [Egyptian **] “Assistants.”[69]
(5) A [Egyptian **] “Chief Scribe,”[70] and several
(6) [Egyptian **] “Scribes,”[71] who had their own
[Egyptian **] or “men servants?” These scribes of the Chancellor were
very important officials: they were intrusted with official seals, and
allowed to transact on their own responsibility important business
affairs connected with the State. They appear generally with the title
[Egyptian **] “Scribe in Charge of the Seal,” or, more literally, “he
who writes with an Official Seal.” They are found under this title only
towards the end of the Twelfth Dynasty, and their services were retained
by the bureaucratic kings of the Thirteenth Dynasty, but no mention
occurs of them in later times. They were employed in writing official
documents, in keeping accounts, and in fixing prices to be paid for
wages of labourers. From inscriptions that have been preserved, it would
seem that each town[72] had its own “Scribe in Charge of the Seal,” and
we read of a “Scribe in Charge of the Seal of the labour bureau” in a
Thirteenth Dynasty papyrus.[73]
Besides the foregoing officials, who were doubtless paid by the
Government, the Chancellor had also his private staff to manage his own
estates and affairs. Among these may be mentioned[74] a _mer per_, or
“Steward;”[75] a _mer shenti_, or “Superintendent of the Granary;”[76] a
_sesh sha_, or “letter writer;”[77] and an _ari aa_, or
“doorkeeper.”[78]
The profession of the seal engraver was obviously an important one in
Egypt, but we do not find any references to his occupation in the
ancient literature. He was called the _mer kesti_, and the scarab-seal
of one named Amenŷ-ankh is in the possession of Mr. Arthur Evans (see
Pl. XVII, 27).[79]
6. SEAL ENGRAVERS AND THE
TECHNIQUE OF SEAL ENGRAVING.
The process of making a seal out of hard stone was simple enough; a
suitable piece of amethyst, jasper, or other material was taken, cut
into the shape of a cylinder, stamp, or scarabaeus beetle, and polished.
The device or inscription was then engraved in intaglio. In the case of
steatite, schist, and other soft stones, the device was sometimes drawn
in ink[80] before being cut, and the seal was finished by being dipped
into a vitreous glaze in order to harden it.
Pottery and paste scarab seals were moulded in terra-cotta moulds. A
lump of potter’s clay or paste was taken, then pressed into a dusted
mould, and flattened with a knife at the bottom. It was then shaken out
and left to dry. When dry, the scarab was placed in the engraver’s
hands, and the inscription or device was cut on the elliptical base; the
whole was then sometimes coated with vitreous glaze.
The glazes used were of different colours, varying from pale blue to
deep violet, and from pale to dark green. Sometimes red and yellow
glazes were also employed. Often the glazes have changed colour, and
sometimes only faint traces of it remain on a seal. Seals that are now
brown in colour were originally green, while grey or white examples were
generally blue.
The tools used were apparently of four kinds: a knife, a graver, a
simple drill, and a tubular drill.
The knife, perhaps of hardened bronze, was used for cutting the
specimens of the softer materials into shape, while the graver, of flint
or obsidian, was employed for cutting the device or inscription.
Herodotus mentions[81] that the Ethiopians pointed their arrows with the
same sort of hard stone or flint that was used for engraving signets.
The simple drill, used for drilling the soft stone seals and for
engraving those of the hard stone class, consisted of a metal drill with
handle, the butt end of which revolved inside a stone or wooden cap
which the engraver held in his hand, and was thus able to direct the
point to the right place. The drill itself was made to revolve by means
of rapidly moving forwards and backwards by a bow, the string of which
was wound round the stick of the drill. Carpenters and cabinet workers
in the East still use a similar bow drill at the present day.
[Illustration: Fig. 16. WORKING THE BOW DRILL. (From the tomb of
Rekhmara.)]
The tubular drill was also worked in the same way with a bow, but
instead of the drill being pointed as in the simple drill, it was
tubular. With hard stones both these kinds of drill were used, with
emery powder and oil or water.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE VARIETIES OF EGYPTIAN SEALS.
[Sidenote: 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.
[Sidenote: 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.
[Sidenote: 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.
[Illustration: Fig. 17. A MOUNTED CYLINDER SEAL. (In the Louvre.)]