Seals and Sealing Practices in the Near East. 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
Edited by I. Regulski Edited by K. Duistermaat Edited by P. Verkinderen
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. This collection of papers is the result of the workshop “Seals and Sealing Practices from Ancient Times until the Present Day. Developments in Administration and Magic through Cultures.”
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. This collection of papers is the result of the workshop “Seals and Sealing Practices from Ancient Times until the Present Day. Developments in Administration and Magic through Cultures”. The meeting was organized by the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo on December 2-3, 2009, on the occasion of the annual Cleveringa lecture, delivered by Prof. Dr. Petra Sijpesteijn from the University of Leiden. It had the financial support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Cairo. 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. Indeed, sealing practices appear to be at least as consistent as writing systems, from their first appearance to modern times. One of the reasons for their success is their ability to adapt to the diverse political, social and cultural pecularities of the multicultural societies at the time.
- Edited by I. Regulski
- Edited by K. Duistermaat
- Edited by P. Verkinderen
Other Titles in this Series
Egypt at its Origins 2
Proceedings of the International Conference 'Origin of the State. Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt', Toulouse (France), 5th-8th September 2005
Volume 172
Redefining Christian Identity
Cultural Interaction in the Middle East since the Rise of Islam
Volume 134
Studies in Arabic and Islam
Proceedings of the 19th Congress, Union Europeenne des Arabisants et Islamisants, Halle 1998
Volume 108
About Tell Tweini (Syria): Artefacts, Ecofacts and Landscape
Research Results of the Belgian Mission
Volume 281
Nubian Archaeology in the XXIst Century
Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Conference for Nubian Studies, Neuchâtel, 1st-6th September 2014
Volume 273
Ancient Egyptian Demonology
Studies on the Boundaries between the Demonic and the Divine in Egyptian Magic
Volume 175
Honi soit qui mal y pense
Studien zum pharaonischen, griechisch-römischen und spätantiken Ägypten zu Ehren von Heinz-Josef Thissen
Volume 194
Arabic Theology, Arabic Philosophy
From the Many to the One: Essays in Celebration of Richard M. Frank
Volume 152
The Egyptian God Tutu
A Study of the Sphinx-God and Master of Demons with a Corpus ofMonuments
Volume 119
Kitab al-Ma’arif by Abu Sa’id Maymun b. Qasim al-Tabarani
Critical Edition with an Introduction
Volume 209
Tribes and Territories in Transition
The Central East Jordan Valley in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages: A Study of the Sources
Volume 130
Des cahiers à l’histoire de la culture à Byzance
Hommage à Paul Canart, codicologue (1927-2017)
Volume 306, 27
From Gnostics to Monastics
Studies in Coptic and Early Christianity in Honor of Bentley Layton
Volume 263
Mythologie et Religion des Sémites Occidentaux
Vol. I: Ebla, Mari. Vol. II: Émar, Ougarit, Israël, Phénicie, Aram, Arabie
Volume 162
Egypt and Syria in the Fatimid, Ayyubid and Mamluk Eras IV
Proceedings of the 9th and 10th International Colloquium organized at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in May 2000 and May 2001
Volume 140
Lexikon der ägyptischen Götter und Götterbezeichnungen Band I
Bearbeitet von Dagmar Budde, Peter Dils, Lothar Goldbrunner, Christian Leitz und Daniela Mendel unter Mitarbeit von Frank Förster, Daniel von Recklinghausen und Bettina Ventker
Volume 110
Inscriptions nabatéennes datées de la fin du IIe siècle avant notre ère au milieu du IVe siècle
Volume 279
Koptische liturgische Melodien
Die Relation zwischen Text und Musik in der koptischen Psalmodia
Volume 197
The Second Intermediate Period (Thirteenth-Seventeenth Dynasties)
Current Research, Future Prospects
Volume 192
Similar Books
Ḫattušaš utnē išḫameški
Hittite and Other Ancient Near Eastern Studies Presented to Piotr Taracha on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday
Punning in Odd or Elegant Constructions in Jeremiah
The Convergence of Linguistics, Rhetoric, and Textuality in the Hebrew Text of Jeremiah
Shame in the Worlds of the Hebrew Bible and Akkadian Texts
A Linguistic Study and Its Implications
Volume 33
Telling Contexts
Archaeological and Textual Studies in Honor of Elizabeth Bloch-Smith and Mark S. Smith
The Body
Lived, Cultured, Adorned: Essays on Dress and the Body in the Bible and Ancient Near East in Honor of Nili S. Fox
Die Entwicklung erdbebensicherer Bautechniken in der Frühen und Mittleren Eisenzeit in Ostanatolien
Volume 11
Kultur – Kontakt – Kultur
Beiträge anlässlich der 66. Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale in Frankfurt/Main und Mainz, 25.–29. Juli 2022
Volume 35
Sprachwissenschaftliche und kulturhistorische Reflexionen
Festschrift zu Ehren von Jörg Klinger
Volume 31
A Numismatic History of Barikot
Catalogue and Analysis of the Coin Finds from the Excavations at Bir-koṭ-ghwaṇḍai (Barikot), Swat, Pakistan (1984-2022) Pakistan (1984-2022). With a contribution by Luca M. Olivieri
Volume 69
Alexander the Great and the Campaign of Gaugamela
New Research on Topography and Chronology. IAMNI 1 (Italian Archaeological Mission to Northern Iraq)
Volume 53
Archaeology of Eastern Anatolia II: From Prehistoric Times to the End of the Iron Ages
Proceedings of the 2nd Archaeology of Eastern Anatolia Colloquium, 23-25 April 2021, Online (Arkeolojihaber Youtube Channel)
Volume 43
Ash-sharq: Bulletin of the Ancient Near East No 9 1-2 2025
Archaeological, Historical and Societal Studies
Assyria and the West
A Fresh Look at the Unshakeable Pillars of Late Bronze and Iron Age Chronology in the Eastern Mediterranean World
Autocratic Rule in Antiquity
Proceedings of the 14th Melammu Workshop, Krakow, 46 October 2021
Volume 12
Boğazköy Tablets in the Museum of Anatolian Civilisations (Bo 95–Bo 3993)
Anadolu Medeniyetleri Müzesinde Bulunan Boğazköy Tabletleri (Bo 95–Bo 3993)
Volume 3
Bridging the Gap: Disciplines, Times, and Spaces in Dialogue – Volume 2
Sessions 3, 7 and 8 from the Conference Broadening Horizons 6 Held at the Freie Universität Berlin, 24–28 June 2019
Ceramic Finds in Context (Roman to Early Islamic Times)
Final Publications from the Danish-German Jerash Northwest Quarter Project VII
Volume 13
Christian Settlements and Monasteries in the Northern Judaean Shephelah and the Western Samaria Hills during the Byzantine Period
From Egypt to the Levant and Beyond
African Individuals and Groupsain Cuneiform Texts from the Late Bronze Age
Volume 133
Groundbreaking Technologies in the Middle Paleolithic of the Levant
8igh Resolution and Multi-scale Functional Analysis of Ground Stone Tools
Volume 3
It All Began with Stratigraphy and Chronology
Archaeology in Central Anatolia. Festschrift Dedicated to Sachihiro Omura on his 77th Birthday
