A mittanian-style cylinder seal from tel burna antónio de freitas

Abstract

Cylinder seals were ubiquitous in all Near Eastern cultures from Mesopotamia to the Levant and Anatolia. The first seals appear as early as the 4th millennium BCE and were used as pendants representing feminine and masculine sexual organs. 1 Later, cylinder seals were engraved with figures and writing symbols and used for other purposes, very often to produce an engraving or an inscription on a clay tablet. Thus, cylinder seal production increased in parallel with the writing-in-clay culture. They were often used to mark ownership, and probably for this reason they were also used as amulets, as protectors of the property. 2 During the Ur III period, cylinder seals played a significant role within the administrative notarial system as they were used by notaries to seal documents to confirm their contents and the participants of a contract would have sealed the documents in order to authorize the acceptance of the conditions, or simply demonstrate their ownership of an inventory. In some cases, the seals were also used to identify envelopes. The relevance of cylinder seals in ancient Near Eastern cultures was of such significance that a prolific industry of production was developed. During the Late Bronze Age, the Mitannian Empire became a substantial producer of cylinder seals, with some cities continuing to produce seals even after they had fallen to the Kingdom of Hatti. On account of this, the trade of seals from Mitanni to the southern Levant during the Late Bronze Age was extensive. 3