stamp-seal
- Museum number
- 1886,0401.1706
- Description
-
Copper alloy cast stamp-seal in a shape of a plumed cartouche; incised Aramaic inscription in cartouche; probably used to stamp jar or amphora sealings; ring-handle welded in the backside; corroded; complete.
- Production date
- 5thC BC
- Dimensions
-
Height: 7.30 centimetres
-
Height: 7.62 centimetres
-
Thickness: 1.80 centimetres (inc loop)
-
Thickness: 0.50 centimetres
-
Width: 3.60 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- The seal was discovered alongside a very early cylinder seal originating from the Kingdom of Aleppo (BM 1886,0401.1722), in a house located outside the Great Temenos (Petrie 1886, 41, pl. XX, no. 17-18).
The inscription gives the name of an official in Aramaic (Villing 2013, 75, fig. 1). Such seal was used to stamp mud or plaster sealings of amphora. Several sealings as well as a seal in bronze, featuring the plumed cartouche of pharaohs of the 26th dynasty, were discovered in Tell Dafana (Petrie 1888, 77 and 111, pl. XLI n. 76).
Petrie, W.M. F. 1888. Tanis 2: Nebesheh (Am) and Defenneh (Tahpanhes). London: Truebner & Co.
Villing, A. 2013, ‘Egypt as a “Market” for Greek Pottery: Some thoughts on production, consumption and distribution in an intercultural environment’, in A. Tsingarida and D. Viviers (eds), Pottery markets in the Ancient Greek World (8th-1st centuries B.C.), Proceedings of the International Symposium held at the Université libre de Bruxelles, 19-21 June 2008, Études d’Archéologie 5, Brussels, 73-102.
- Location
- Not on display
- Condition
- Relatively fair, but corroded
- Acquisition date
- 1886
- Department
- Greek and Roman
- Registration number
- 1886,0401.1706
