Seals and sealing practices in the Near East
Subtitle: developments in administration and magic from prehistory to the Islamic period : Proceedings of an international workshop at the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo on December 2-3, 2009
By: edited by Ilona Regulski, Kim Duistermaat and Peter Verkinderen
Contributors: Duistermaat, Kim; Regulski, Ilona; Verkinderen, Peter; Nederlands-Vlaams Instituut in Cairo
Series: Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta -- 219; Orientalia Lovaniensia analecta -- 219.
Publisher: Peeters
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Leuven
Language: eng
Number of pages: 218
ISBN-13: 9789042926684
Subjects: Seals (Numismatics); Congresses
Description: The cultural and historical setting of the Near East provides a unique opportunity to study a longer usage of sealing practices in administration and magic, which extends beyond the constraints of a specific time period or region. Comparing ancient practices with more recent ones can offer important insights into the development of sealing practices and provide answers to specific questions related to the handling of seals and the social status of the seal bearer. Since the initiative towards the workshop was taken by staff members of the NVIC, the focus was on Egypt but other cultures in the Near East and Central Asia were also considered. Following up on the workshop, the present volume retains the geographical and chronological scope, but added a few contributions dealing with the Greco-Roman and Byzantine periods. Glancing at the content, the reader will be struck by the diachronic and spatial persistence of the use of seals for administrative and other purposes, and by their multi-functionality.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
Table of contents: title: Introduction / -- I. Regulski; title: Which Came First, the Bureaucrat or the Seal? Some Thoughts on the Non-Administrative Origins of Seals in Neolithic Syria  -- K. Duistermaat; title: Do Seal Impressions Prove a Change in the Administration during the Reign of King Den?  -- V. Müller; title: The Transition from the Linear A to the Linear B Sealing System  -- H. Tomas; title: Protection, Control and Prestige : Seals among the Rural Population of Qau-Matmar  -- U. Dubiel; title: "Non Signat Aegyptus"? Seals and Stamps in the Multicultural Society of Greco-Roman Egypt  -- K. Vandorpe, -- B. Van Beek; title: On the Development of Sasanian Seals and Sealing Practice : A Mesopotamian Approach  -- N.C. Ritter; title: Magical Protection and Stamps in Byzantium  -- B. Caseau; title: Sealing Practices in the Byzantine Administration  -- J.-Cl. Cheynet, -- B. Caseau; title: Sealing Practices in the Monasteries of Late Antique and Early Medieval Egypt  -- C. Kotsifou; title: Seals and Papyri from Early Islamic Egypt  -- P.M. Sijpesteijn; title: The Seal of Solomon : From Magic to Messianic Device  -- E. Fernández Medina; title: Seals in Islamic Magical Literature  -- S. Dorpmüller; title: Block Printing as an Extension of the Practice of Stamping -- K.R. Schaefer.