SEALING THEORIES and PRACTICES in the ANCIENT NEAR EAST Program

SEALING THEORIES AND PRACTICES IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST program

MARCH 5–6 2020 THE 16TH ANNUAL UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ORIENTAL INSTITUTE SEMINAR IN THIS PROGRAM THE ORIENTAL 2 Schedule INSTITUTE Bios & Abstracts 4 1155 EAST 58TH STREET CHICAGO, IL 60637 13 OIS publications WEBSITE 14 Notes oi.uchicago.edu

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION 77.702.9513 [email protected]

MUSEUM INFORMATION 773.702.9520

PARTICIPANTS SUQ GIFT AND BOOK SHOP 773.702-9514 ALAIN BRESSON University of Chicago ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE 773.702.9514 BÉATRICE CASEAU [email protected] Sorbonne Université PAUL COPP MUSEUM GALLERY HOURS University of Chicago Sun–Tue, Thu–Sat: 10am–5pm Wed: 10am–8pm MARK B. GARRISON Mon: Closed Trinity University ACCESSABILITY McGUIRE GIBSON University of Chicago Persons with disabilities who need an accommodation in order to par- WOUTER HENKELMAN ticipate in events should contact the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes event sponsor for assistance. Visit answers.uchicago.edu/19772 for infor- DENİZ KAPTAN mation on Assistive Listening Devices. University of Nevada Reno AGNETE WISTI LASSEN Yale University BRIAN MUHS SEMINAR ORGANIZER: Delphine University of Chicago Poinsot, postdoctoral fellow DELPHINE POINSOT PROGRAM PRODUCTION AND University of Chicago DESIGN: Charissa Johnson EDITORS: Charissa Johnson and Steven

KARL R. SCHAEFER Townshend Drake University TORBEN SCHREIBER PHOTOGRAPHS: Courtesty of the University of Münster Oriental Institute Photo Archives

OYA TOPÇUOĞLU DRAWINGS: Eric Poinsot Northwestern University Publication of the Oriental Institute THEO VAN DEN HOUT Seminar series is made possible University of Chicago through generous funding from the TASHA VORDERSTRASSE Arthur and Lee Herbst Research and University of Chicago Education Fund. he seal is to the ancient Near East what the social security number and the lucky charm are to our modern societies: a key element that proves one exists within an administration; an object Tpreciously preserved because it carries identity, validity, and even magical forces. Sealing was a common practice in the ancient Near East, but the associated customs and uses across different societies varied. The study of both its shared and diverse aspects is crucial for understanding the socio-administrative functioning of ancient societies. Through its many facets, sealing touches several aspects of ancient societies: political, administrative, sociological, cultural, and artistic. To understand this critical source of knowledge, a multi-disciplinary and multi-documentary approach is necessary. Forty years after the ground- breaking study by McGuire Gibson and Robert Biggs,* this conference therefore brings together scholars from different areas of study: from Anatolia to China and from ancient Mesopotamia to the first centuries of Islam. This spatial, temporal, and disciplinary breadth allows a more complete picture of the sources and methods of analysis available in understanding the socio-administrative practices, systems of thought, and beliefs surrounding seals and sealings.

*Gibson, McGuire, and Robert D. Biggs. Seals and Sealing in the Ancient Near East. Bibliotheca Mesopotamia, vol. 6. Malibu: Undena Publications, 1977.

THE 16TH ANNUAL UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ORIENTAL INSTITUTE SEMINAR 1 sc

THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020 h

edule INTRODUCTION | 9:00–9:30

9:00 OPENING REMARKS Christopher Woods, director of the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago Delphine Poinsot, organizer, postdoctoral fellow, University of Chicago

SESSION 1: EXAMINING USES OF SEALS | 9:30–1:00 Session Chair: McGuire Gibson

9:30 ONE SEAL, TWO SEAL, RED SEAL, BLUE SEAL: MULTIPLE SEAL OWNERSHIP

IN MESOPOTAMIA IN THE EARLY SECOND MILLENNIUM Oya Topçuoğlu, Northwestern University DAY 1 DAY 10:00 SEAL COLLECTING AND REUSE IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST Agnete Wisti Lassen, Yale University

10:30 PREVENTING FRAUD AND FORGERY OF SEALS IN THE HITTITE KINGDOM Theo van den Hout, University of Chicago

11:00–11:30 COFFEE BREAK | LaSalle Banks Room

11:30 A DIACHRONIC SURVEY OF ANCIENT EGYPTIAN SEALING PRACTICES FROM THE PREDYNASTIC THROUGH THE GRAECO-ROMAN PERIODS Brian Muhs, University of Chicago

12:00 SEALING PRACTICES IN ANATOLIA UNDER ACHAEMENID RULE Deniz Kaptan, University of Nevada Reno

12:30 RESPONSE & DISCUSSION McGuire Gibson, University of Chicago

1:00–2:15 LUNCH BREAK

SESSION 2: EXAMINING ADMINISTRATIVE ARCHIVES | 2:15–5:15 Session Chair: Alain Bresson

2:15 ONLY LUMPS OF CLAY? SEAL IMPRESSIONS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO THE RECONSTRUCTION OF HELLENISTIC AND ROMAN BUREAUCRACY Torben Schreiber, University of Münster

2:45 SEALS AND DOCUMENT TYPES IN THE PERSEPOLIS FORTIFICATION ARCHIVE Mark B. Garrison, Trinity University

3:15–3:45 COFFEE BREAK | LaSalle Banks Room

3:45 IRDABAMA AND HER SEALS: THE ROOTS OF THE ACHAEMENIDS AND THE FORTIFICATION ARCHIVE Wouter Henkelman, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes

4:15 SEALING WITH ANIMALS IN IRANIAN GLYPTIC, FROM THE ACHAEMENID TO THE SASANIAN DYNASTY Delphine Poinsot, University of Chicago

4:45 RESPONSE & DISCUSSION Alain Bresson, University of Chicago

5:15–6:30 RECEPTION | LaSalle Banks Room

2 SEALING THEORIES AND PRACTICES IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST sc

FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 2020 h

SESSION 3: EXAMINING BEYOND ADMINISTRATION | 9:30–12:30 edule Session Chair: Tasha Vorderstrasse

9:30 STAMPING MATERIAL AS SEALS IN ROMAN AND BYZANTINE MATERIAL CULTURE Béatrice Caseau, Sorbonne Université

10:00 ADMINISTERING MAGIC IN MEDIEVAL ISLAM Karl Schaefer, Drake University

10:30 SEALS IN CHINESE RELIGIOUS PRACTICE: METAPHOR AND MATERIALITY Paul Copp, University of Chicago DAY 2 DAY 11:00–11:30 COFFEE BREAK | LaSalle Banks Room

11:30 RESPONSE & DISCUSSION Tasha Vorderstrasse, University of Chicago

12:00–12:30 CONCLUDING REMARKS & FINAL DISCUSSION Delphine Poinsot, University of Chicago

3:00–4:30 Optional Workshop | LaSalle Banks Room LASTING IMPRESSIONS: USING SEALS IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST Rhyne King, Susanne Paulus, Delphine Poinsot, and Tasha Vorderstrasse, University of Chicago

“Is this seal big enough?”

THE 16TH ANNUAL UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ORIENTAL INSTITUTE SEMINAR 3 on such objects. Roman and Byzantine stamping material is BIOS & ABSTRACTS interesting for more than one reason: it provides information on onomastics and iconography, and it often follows a religious ALAIN BRESSON Press, 2016) and is preparing agenda. The Bibliothèque na- Respondant, University of a new book on coinage as the tionale de France owns a col- Chicago, Department of Classics specific form of money in the lection of such objects, given in ancient Greek world. He also part by a German scholar work- Bio: Alain Bresson is the Robert publishes regularly on the histo- ing before 1870 at the Louvre O. Anderson Distinguished ry, epigraphy, and numismatics Museum and in the service of Service Professor in the of various regions of the ancient Napoleon III. Examples illustrat- Department of Classics and world, especially Asia Minor. ing the diversity of such objects the Department of History at and their possible use will be the University of Chicago and a taken from this collection. member at the Oriental Institute. BÉATRICE CASEAU His research focuses on ancient Sorbonne Université, Faculté Bio: Béatrice Caseau is pro- economy and is developed in the des Lettres fessor of Byzantine history at framework both of the standard Sorbonne University and was STAMPING MATERIAL AS categories of economics (capital, the director of a research clus- SEALS IN ROMAN AND labor, and technological level) ter on religions and society in BYZANTINE MATERIAL and of the New Institutional the Mediterranean (2015–2019). CULTURE Economics paradigm, with a She is now a member of the (Session 3 | Friday, 9:30) special interest in the evolution Institut Universitaire de France. of institutions as a major fac- Abstract: What Byzantinists Her research focuses on the his- tor of economic development. call Byzantine seals are in fact tory of the Byzantine world, and He has recently published The imprinted objects, and there especially on late antique and Making of the Ancient Greek is some confusion in the vo- Byzantine Christianity. She has Economy (Princeton University cabulary used. The word “seal” published on a range of top- in most other cultures is used ics, including the history of the to indicate the stone or metal senses, religious violence, mate- stamp with which an impres- rial culture, food culture, and the sion is made, while among history of religious practices. In Byzantinists, the word “seal” is 2015 she published Nourritures used for the bulla on which text terrestres, nourritures célestes: and images are impressed rath- la culture alimentaire à Byzance er than the stamping tool itself. (Paris: ACHCByz). Thus, publications of “Byzantine seals” are in fact publications of imprinted objects. Byzantine PAUL COPP University of Chicago, emperors, aristocrats, and mem- East Asian Languages and bers of the different adminis- Civilizations trations had boulloteria—tools engraved and struck in order to SEALS IN CHINESE RELIGIOUS print text and images on lead, PRACTICE: METAPHOR AND silver, or gold circular blanks. MATERIALITY Both Roman and early (Session 3 | Friday, 10:30) Byzantine material cultures also had stamping material, but A b s t r ac t : Seals—that is, Byzantinists hesitate as to what stamps imagined through log- to call them, and most call them ics of identity—were small but bread stamps, which is again revealing features of religious somewhat confusing, as they thought and practice in pre- “We are going to the were used on clay as well as on modern China. As physical ma- office of seals.” bread. This presentation focuses trices carved from various kinds

4 SEALING THEORIES AND PRACTICES IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST of wood or cast in bronze, or as the bodily gestures known to us mainly by the Sanskrit name mudrā (literally, “seal”), they were potent tools of ritual- ists, whether Daoist, Buddhist, or otherwise. Arising in good part from these physical practices (and in turn transforming them), conceptual images fea- turing seals were just as potent in Chinese religious thought. This presentation explores the ways that both forms, taken to- and material-historical study paper thus updates previous gether—ritual and conceptual— of the worlds of anonymous summaries published in 2008 formed complex assemblages ninth and tenth century Chinese and 2017. that reveal much about the na- Buddhists, evidenced by manu- To date, almost 2,200 unin- ture of religious practice in Tang script handbooks and liturgies scribed documents have been and tenth-century China. from Dunhuang. fully cataloged (out of a corpus of some 3,500 tablets). All un- Bio: Paul Copp is associate inscribed documents have been MARK B. GARRISON professor in Chinese religion read in a preliminary manner. Of Trinity University, Department and thought in the Department course, the principal obstacle to of Art and History of East Asian Languages and our understanding of this par- Civilizations (University of SEALS AND DOCUMENT ticular document type is the Chicago). His research focuses TYPES IN THE PERSEPOLIS lack of any text written on the on the history of religious prac- FORTIFICATION ARCHIVE tablets. Sealing protocols and tice in China and eastern Central (Session 2 | Thursday, 2:45) the seals themselves thus con- Asia during the period stretch- stitute the most critical resourc- ing from the eighth to the thir- A b s t r a c t : The Persepolis es in linking these documents to teenth centuries. He is most in- Fortification Archive, dating the archive as a whole. terested in the study of visual to the years 509–493 bc in It is now clear that the seal- and material sources, especially the reign of Darius I, contains, ing protocols (i.e., the system in the manuscripts, xylographs, with a few rare exceptions, determining where seals are and objects of personal reli- three types of clay documents: applied to tablets and what seal gious practice, such as amulets those carrying texts in cunei- placement indicates within the and seals, discovered at the “silk form script in Elamite language; administrative system) are con- road” sites of Dunhuang, Turfan, those carrying texts in Aramaic sistent across the entire archive. and Khara-khoto, as well as in script and language; and those tombs from across the region. carrying no text (what we call There are four sealing protocols: In 2014 he published The Body uninscribed documents), only 1) Single-seal, generally indicat- Incantatory, a study of the na- the impression(s) of seals. All ing a high level of administra- ture and history of Buddhist Aramaic and uninscribed doc- tive oversight. 2) Counter-seal, incantation and amulet prac- uments are sealed, while ap- having two seals—one placed tices in Tang China centered in proximately 85 percent of the on the left edge and the other archaeological evidence. He is Elamite documents are sealed. on the reverse, upper, and/or currently writing two books fo- This paper briefly surveys bottom edges, indicating a sup- cused in different ways in the the results of research carried plier and receiver. 3) Parallel- study of religious seals in China. out in 2018 and 2019 on the un- seal, having two seals—the seal The first studies seals in Chinese inscribed documents, exploring on the left edge occurring ad- religious practice both for what the possible implications of this ditionally on another surface, they show about Chinese re- research for our understanding generally indicating shared religious history, and as a case of uninscribed documents as a sponsibility in a transaction. 4) study of the nature of “mate- distinct category and the rela- Multiple-seal, having three to rial religion” more broadly. The tionships between and among five seals placed on various sur- second book is a paleographic the three document types. This faces—the exact significance of

THE 16TH ANNUAL UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ORIENTAL INSTITUTE SEMINAR 5 CYLINDER SEAL AND MODERN IMPRESSION

Lapiz lazuli Iraq, Nippur, Inanna Temple IV, 38 Ur III period (2112–2004 bc) Excavated in 1955–56 A30568, C8939

The design shows a presentation scene in which a goddess in a tiered garment leads a female worshippper in a plain garment with a tasseled hem before a seated goddess in a tiered garment with the right arm raised. A sun disk and crescent appear in the compositional field between the goddesses. It is inscribed, “Kabuni, high priest of Enlil, Inanna is his wife.”

this sealing pattern being a sub- Bio: Mark B. Garrison holds the the early Achaemenid period. ject of some discussion. Alice Pratt Brown Distinguished His publications have also ad- Fortunately, some forty seals Professorship in art history in dressed the emergence and de- occur on all three document the Department of Art and Art velopment of royal ideology in types. These seals are especial- History at Trinity University in glyptic at Persepolis, religious ly critical in providing insights San Antonio, Texas. His primary imagery in Achaemenid art, into the functions of both un- research interests are the glyp- and the relationship of glyp- inscribed and Aramaic docu- tic arts of ancient Iran and Iraq tic of the Achaemenid period ments. Additionally, some 161 in the first half of the first mil- with earlier glyptic traditions in seals that occur on the Elamite lennium bc. He specializes in the Assyria, Babylonia, and Elam. documents also occur on the glyptic preserved on two large His most recent book is The uninscribed documents. In some archives from Persepolis: the Ritual Landscape at Persepolis: instances, two seals that occur Persepolis Fortification Archive Glyptic Imagery from the together on Elamite documents and the Persepolis Treasury Persepolis Fortification and also occur together on unin- Archive. With Margaret Cool Treasury Archives, Studies in scribed documents, thus virtu- Root, he is author of Seals on Ancient Oriental Civilization 72 ally ensuring that we are dealing the Persepolis Fortification (Chicago: The Oriental Institute, with the same types of transac- Tablets, volume I: Images of 2017), which won the 2018 tions, the one bearing text, the Heroic Encounter, Oriental Ehsan Yarshater Book Award. other not. Institute Publications 117 Lastly, the four most com- (Chicago: The Oriental Institute, McGUIRE GIBSON monly occurring seals on the 2001). In addition to the docu- Respondant, University of uninscribed documents, PFS 48, mentary work represented in Chicago, Oriental Institute PFS 75, PFS 142, and PFS 535*, that publication, his research all also occur on the Elamite has focused upon social aspects Bio: McGuire Gibson is profes- tablets. These four seals may of glyptic production in work- sor emeritus of Mesopotamian thus be especially critical in de- shops in Persepolis, especially archaeology at the Oriental termining the principal adminis- the issues surrounding the im- Institute and in the Department trative sphere of the uninscribed pact of individuals of high sta- of Near Eastern Civilizations at documents within the agency tus and/or administrative rank the University of Chicago. He represented by the Persepolis on the development of glyp- has conducted archaeologi- Fortification Archive as a whole. tic style and iconography in cal research in Iraq since 1964,

6 SEALING THEORIES AND PRACTICES IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST mainly at Nippur, and has also in the Fortification Archive. Texts, Translations, Commentary worked in the Eastern Province Both her personal seal and the and Lexicon, 3 vols., Oriental of Saudi Arabia, the Dhamar seal held by her steward define Institute Publications (Chicago: plain of Yemen, and in north- a corpus of texts that document Oriental Institute). eastern Syria, where he direct- Irdabama’s table, her travels, ed investigations of the early her estates, and the many de- city site of Hamoukar. He has pendent workers in her ser- DENİZ KAPTAN authored or edited more vice. The seals, both of which University of Nevada Reno, than twelve books, includ- have been identified as heir- Department of Anthropology ing The City and Area of looms by Mark Garrison, SEALING PRACTICES Kish, Seals and Sealing also open a view to an IN ANATOLIA UNDER in the Ancient Near East, older past. They ACHAEMENID RULE and The Organization potentially link (Session 1 | Thursday, 12:00) of Power: Aspects of Irdabama her- Bureaucracy in the self to a local Abstract: Archaeological evi- Ancient Near East, and mono- dynasty at Šullaggi in south- dence of seal use in Anatolia graphs on excavations at eastern Elam, where Irdabama during the Achaemenid pe- Nippur and Uch Tepe. He edited herself still had an estate. They riod (ca. 550–330 bc) primar- and added substantial text to invite reflections on the ori- ily consists of seal impressions Muzahim Mahmoud’s Nimrud: gins of complex administrative on lumps of clay tradition- The Queens’ Tombs. Articles structures in the highland of ally known as “bullae.” Unlike include "Violation of Fallow Fārs and, most crucially, on the Mesopotamia and Iran, where and Engineered Disaster in narrative and identity-building record keeping on cuneiform Mesopotamian Civilization,” nu- qualities of inherited seals, in- tablets was continuous, prac- merous preliminary reports on cluding those of Kuraš of Anzan tices in Anatolia during the Nippur and other sites, as well or Aršāma, son of Darius. Achaemenid period were dif- as pieces on the destruction of ferent. Correspondence of any cultural heritage. He served on B i o : Wouter Henkelman is sort, including bookkeeping, fact-finding teams of UNESCO associate professor at the was carried out on lightweight, and the National Geographic Ecole Pratiques des Hautes perishable material that could Society in Iraq in May 2003, as- Etudes, section des Sciences not survive as cuneiform tab- sessing the looting of the Iraq Historiques et Philologiques. lets did. That difference makes Museum and archaeological He is a specialist in the history the significance of bullae even sites. He was the primary found- and cultures of the Achaemenid greater, since they can indicate er of the American Institute Empire and of the Achaemenid what economic, administrative, for Yemeni Studies and The Elamite language. His research and bureaucratic activities oc- American Academic Research focuses particularly on the criti- curred where they were exca- Institute in Iraq, and served as cal study of classical sources on vated. Furthermore, this opens a the first chairman of the Council the Achaemenid Empire and the gateway for aspects of of Overseas Research Centers in analysis of the archive of the visual communication. Washington, DC. fortifications of Persepolis and This paper first sum- its implications for Achaemenid marizes the terminol- history. He is a member of ogy used in previous WOUTER HENKELMAN the Persepolis Fortification scholarship and then Ecole Pratique des Hautes Archive (PFA) Project team focuses on the bul- Etudes, Section des Sciences at the Oriental Institute of the lae from Daskyleion Historiques et Philologiques University of Chicago. In 2008 (the satrapal center in Hellespontine IRDABAMA AND HER he published The Other Gods Phrygia) and SEALS: THE ROOTS OF THE Who Are: Studies in Elamite- Iranian Acculturation Based Seyitömer ACHAEMENIDS AND THE Höyük (a re- on the Persepolis Fortification FORTIFICATION ARCHIVE cently ex- (Session 2 | Thursday, 3:45) Texts. He is currently pub- lishing the Elamite tablets of cavated site Abstract: The royal woman the Persepolis Fortification Irdabama is the most prominent Archive with R. T. Hallock†: The i n member of Darius's household Persepolis Fortification Archive:

THE 16TH ANNUAL UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ORIENTAL INSTITUTE SEMINAR 7 In spite of a deeply personal relationship between owner and seal—going well beyond the relationship between patron and other types of artwork—they were also enduring pieces of material culture with significant object biographies, many of them having multiple owners and users and going through several iterations of recarving and modification. This presentation addresses antiquarianism and the reuse of seals in the ancient Near East and presents examples of seals whose imagery and legends clearly signal that they were of significant age and pedigree. Through a study of seal biographies, this presentation follows the journey of a se- lection of seals through chang- Phrygia). Our findings show that of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and ing owners, and the ensuing re- the typology of the bullae could taught at Bilkent University, carving of imagery and legends. offer clues for the application Ankara. Her publications include process of a seal and the func- Daskyleion Bullae, Seal Images Bio: Agnete Wisti Lassen is the tion of the “finished product” from the Western Achaemenid associate curator of the Yale that is the clay object with seal Empire (Leiden, 2002), and Babylonian Collection, Yale impression(s). While the majori- numerous articles. Her field- University. Her research has ty of bullae from Daskyleion can work experience includes ex- concentrated on seals and seal be classified as letter-bullae, cavations at Arycanda and use in the ancient Near East and others from both sites suggest Phaselis in Lycia, and the sur- expressions of identity in mate- different functions based on the vey of the Hacımusalar Höyük rial culture, primarily attested observations about the applica- on the Elmalı plain in northern through seal style as well as tex- tion process of seals—in some Lycia. She is currently prepar- tiles and dress. She has curated cases on both sides—and the ing a publication about seals a series of thematic exhibitions use of multiple seals on some, and seal use in Anatolia during on the culture and society of showing close connections to the first millennium BC, based ancient Mesopotamia. the practices in the center of on her research project on the the empire. Overall, the bullae Achaemenid period seals in the from Daskyleion and Seyitömer collections of regional museums BRIAN MUHS Höyük shed light on the pres- in Turkey. University of Chicago, ence of administrative and eco- Oriental Institute nomic activity in the region within the imperial network. AGNETE WISTI LASSEN A DIACHRONIC SURVEY OF Yale University, Near Eastern ANCIENT EGYPTIAN SEALING Deniz Kaptan is adjunct Bio: Languages and Civilizations PRACTICES FROM THE faculty in the Department of PREDYNASTIC THROUGH THE Anthropology, University of SEAL COLLECTING AND GRAECO-ROMAN PERIODS Nevada, Reno. She received her REUSE IN THE ANCIENT (Session 1 | Thursday, 11:30) PhD in classical archaeology NEAR EAST at Ankara University, was a re- (Session 1 | Thursday, 10:00) Abstract: Ancient Egyptian search associate at the Institut seals and sealing practices für Ur- und Frühgeschichte, Abstract: Seals were symboli- changed continuously through- Heidelberg University, a visit- cally charged works of minia- out Egyptian history. Cylinder ing scholar at the Department ture art as well as personal sig- seals appeared in the late of the History of Art, University natures in the ancient Near East. fourth millennium bce and were

8 SEALING THEORIES AND PRACTICES IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST replaced in the late third millen- been attached after they were Pennsylvania in 1996, and was nium bce by scarab seals. Ring opened, perhaps as a form of lecturer at the Papyrological seals appeared in the late sec- accounting. From the late sec- Institute of Leiden University ond millennium bce and gradu- ond millennium bce onwards, from 1997 to 2011 before com- ally became the dominant form. however, such hoards are rare, ing to Chicago. He has pub- The earliest cylinder seals pre- perhaps because they had been lished two books on taxation in dated hieroglyphic writing and replaced by written accounts. Ptolemaic Egypt and a third on were purely figural designs. Seals and sealings had two the ancient Egyptian economy. Hieroglyphic inscriptions first main functions: seals were used appeared in the early third mil- for identification, to associate lennium, but figural designs per- the bearer of the seal with an DELPHINE POINSOT Organizer, University of sisted. Inscriptions initially only institution or office; sealings Chicago, Oriental Institute identified kings, then expanded were used for accountability, as- to include offices and officials, sociating objects or texts with SEALING WITH ANIMALS IN and finally private individuals. offices or individuals in order IRANIAN GLYPTIC, FROM Seals were impressed on to hold them accountable when THE ACHAEMENID TO THE lumps of clay or mud to pro- the objects were opened. SASANIAN DYNASTY duce sealings on bags, boxes, (Session 2 | Thursday, 4:15) baskets, jars, doors, and papyri, Bio: Brian Muhs is associ- often over cloth or cords tying ate professor of Egyptology Abstract: This paper focus- the objects shut. In the late third at the Oriental Institute, the es on animal imagery on seals and early second millennia bce, Department of Near Eastern from the Persepolis Fortification sealings are sometimes found Languages and Civilizations, Archive and the development of in deliberate ancient hoards, and the College at the University animal imagery on seals from separated in antiquity from of Chicago. He received his the Achaemenid to the Sasanian the objects to which they had PhD from the University of periods. The texts from the

CYLINDER SEAL OF BILALAMA AND MODERN IMPRESSION

Lapis lazuli, gold, copper alloy Iraq, probably Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar) Isin-Larsa period (ca. 2000 bc) Purchased in Baghdad, 1931 A7468, C43133 a This ancient cylinder seal of Bilalama shows a presentation scene with a worshipper, followed by a divine attendant, approaching the warrior god Tishpak. Right (a–c) are three sealings impressed with this same seal excavated by OI archaeologists at Eshnunna.

c b

DOOR AND BAG SEALINGS IMPRESSED WITH CYLINDER SEAL OF BILALAMA

Clay Iraq, Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar) Isin-Larsa period (ca. 2000 bc) Excavated in 1930–32 (a) As.30:T.650, (b) As.31:T.256, (c) As.30:T.643

THE 16TH ANNUAL UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ORIENTAL INSTITUTE SEMINAR 9 Fortification Archive document My own project seeks to in these corpora, a relationship the collection and distribution provide a diachronic study of that is considered a testimony of commodities used principal- animal imagery on seals, both as to how societies perceive ly as rations for workers in the art historical and archival, in and understand the natural region of what is approximately order to trace the development environment, whether famil- today the modern province of of both imagery and sealing iar or foreign. She is currently Fars. The archive dates to the protocols from the Achaemenid working on the representation years 509–493 bce in the reign to the Sasanian periods. As an of the bestiary in the tablets of Darius I. There are thousands initial step, the analysis will of Persepolis (in collaboration of tablets, many of which carry focus particularly on animal im- with the Persepolis Fortification impressions of seals represent- agery occurring on stamp seals Archive Project) during the ing officials and offices in the in the Fortification Archive; Achaemenid period. The pur- administrative system. To date, rather remarkably, the archive pose is to study its links with just over four thousand distinct preserves some six hundred ex- the Sasanian glyptic’s bestiary and legible seals have been amples of stamp seals carrying in order to describe the trans- identified. animal imagery. Many of these mitted iconographic traditions Similar archives consisting seals, in their form, style, and and their mode of diffusion. only of sealings exist from the imagery, exhibit many parallels to seals of the Sasanian period. late Sasanian period at Takht-e By careful study of both the im- KARL R. SCHAEFER Soleyman and Qasr-i Abu agery and sealing practices in Drake University, Cowles Nasr. Sealing protocols in the Achaemenid and Sasanian archi- Library Department Fortification Archive have been val contexts, it may be possible the subject of several stud- ADMINISTERING MAGIC IN to understand how a distinctive ies (e.g., Root 2008, Garrison MEDIEVAL ISLAM theme was transmitted within 2017, Garrison and Henkelman (Session 3 | Friday, 10:00) the particular context of sealed in press). Sealing protocols archives in ancient Iran. Abstract: Under Islam, people within the various Sasanian made use of seals from the very corpora have only recently Bio: Delphine Poinsot is an art beginning. Research on sealing been undertaken; e.g., Yousef historian specializing in the practice in the Islamic realms Moradi (postdoctoral fellow, iconography and sigillography indicates that seals were used SOAS) is studying sealing pro- of Iran in late antiquity. Her re- for a variety of personal and ad- tocols on the sealed material search focuses on the human- ministrative purposes over the from Takht-e Soleyman. animal relationship as reflected entire range of Islamic history. While there seems to have been little question about the propri- ety or legality of the application of seals for most purposes, there was much debate about their acceptable form when it came to creating seals in the form of talismans. While handwritten Arabic/ Islamic talismans frequently carry arcane symbols, including so-called secret languages, there is an almost absolute absence of such characters on block-printed charms. This phe- nomenon appears to be closely related to the efforts of medieval Islamic philosophers and theologians to propagate and administer a form of magic that would adhere to Islamic principles. In this presentation,

10 SEALING THEORIES AND PRACTICES IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TORBEN SCHREIBER this inevitably led to negligent University of Münster, Institute handling of the material. for Classical and Early Christian This lecture gives an over- Archaeology view of the state of the art on Hellenistic and Roman archives ONLY LUMPS OF CLAY? and their seal impression in- SEAL IMPRESSIONS AND ventories. As an example, the THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO archive of Doliche, which is THE RECONSTRUCTION OF located at the transition from HELLENISTIC AND ROMAN Mesopotamia and the Levant BUREAUCRACY to Asia Minor and dates from (Session 2 | Thursday, 2:15) about 100 bc to the second century ad, will be discussed. Abstract: From Hellenistic and Roman times, approximately Bio: Torben Schreiber studied more than two hundred thou- classical archaeology, ancient I discuss the role played by sand seal impressions have been history, and prehistory at the block-printed talismans in the preserved. The way in which University of Münster and at debate over what constituted a these impressions survived is the Università degli Studi Suor “valid” Islamic talisman. quite paradoxical: in most cases Orsola Benincasa in Naples the archives were destroyed by (2004–2011). His master's thesis B i o : Karl R. Schaefer, MA fire, and while the conflagra- about Ptolemaic artifacts in the (1980), PhD (1985) in Near tion irrevocably destroyed the collection of the Archaeological Eastern Studies from New York documents made of papyrus Museum of the University of University, MLIS (1992) from and parchment, the document Münster was followed by a doc- the University of Oklahoma. closures made of initially un- torate, which was completed in Reference and instruction li- fired clay were made durable— 2018 with a thesis on Hellenistic brarian, professor (emeri- similar to the firing of pottery. tus), Cowles Library, Drake Completely preserved docu- University, Des Moines, Iowa. ments with seal impressions Taught at the University of prove that the names of the per- Tulsa, Oklahoma (1988–1991) sons who sealed the documents and served as a cataloger of were usually written next to or Arabic and Persian manuscripts under their seal impressions and in the Robert Garrett Collection that it was sometimes stated in of Near Eastern manuscripts, which function the appearing Firestone Library, Princeton University (1993–1995). Author parties sealed the documents. of several articles on medieval For the sealings no longer Arabic block printing and of attached to documents, all this Enigmatic Charms: Medieval information is lost. The numer- Arabic Block Printed Amulets in ous finds from Hellenistic and American and European Libraries Roman times thus form a broad and Museums (Brill Academic, material basis with an almost STAMP 2006), the first comprehensive inexhaustible iconographic rep- SEAL AND study of Arabic block printing. ertoire, but the decontextualiza- MODERN Held a Fulbright Fellowship at tion described poses numerous IMPRESSION the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, problems for research concern- Stone Alexandria, Egypt (2009–2010), ing central questions about the Iraq, Eshnunna (modern Tell helping to create collection de- process of administration, seal- Asmar), D 15:3 sounding velopment protocols for its vari- ing, seal usage, and archiving. Uruk period (4000–3100 bc) Information about the finds Excavated in 1933–34 ous divisions. Awarded a Petra A12303, C8892 Kappert Fellowship at the Center must be drawn from the finds for the Study of Manuscript themselves, as there are hardly Stamp seal in a lion-headed shape. Cultures, University of Hamburg, any external indications for the Underside reveals a free design of a Germany (2017) for further re- classification of these seal im- reccumbent goat. search on Arabic block printing. pression inventories. In the past,

THE 16TH ANNUAL UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ORIENTAL INSTITUTE SEMINAR 11 and Roman seal-impression in- OYA TOPÇUOĞLU bringing together seal imagery, ventories. From 2011 to 2017 he Northwestern University, textual evidence, and archaeo- was a research assistant in the Middle East and North African logical information, this paper Doliche Project at Studies explores the practice of multi- the Asia Minor ple seal ownership in northern ONE SEAL, TWO SEAL, RED Research Centre Mesopotamia in the early sec- SEAL, BLUE SEAL: MULTIPLE at the University ond millennium. As recent stud- SEAL OWNERSHIP ies have shown, an integrated of Münster. IN MESOPOTAMIA IN approach can provide ample in- During 2017–2018, THE EARLY SECOND formation regarding seal own- Schreiber was one of MILLENNIUM ers, their social and professional the curators of the exhi- (Session 1 | Thursday, 9:30) bition Eirene/Pax: Peace identities, and different sealing in Antiquity Abstract: Seals have been practices. (Münster). In used in administrative practice Attested both in the archaeological and textual re- 2018 and 2019 as markers of identity and own- cord of Mesopotamia since the he was a postdoc fellow at ership for millennia. Although Akkadian period, multiple seal the German Archaeological the ancient Greek historian ownership was a common phe- Institute in Istanbul and initi- Herodotus reports that in the Persian period “every man in nomenon observed across mil- ated the project, Hellenistic Babylonia owned a seal,” in lennia, especially in official con- and Roman Seal Impressions reality not everyone in the an- texts. Several examples suggest from Asia Minor and Adjacent cient Near East owned or even that individuals owned and used Regions. Since the beginning needed a seal. Ownership of a different seals, often simultane- of 2020, Schreiber is a research seal, often carved in stone and ously, for different purposes, assistant at the Institute of hence an expensive commod- such as official vs. personal Classical Archaeology at the ity, indicated an individual’s so- business. However, the reasons University of Münster and co-di- cial and economic position, and behind this common practice rector of the Armenian-German was a sign of prestige. Given appear to more complicated Archaeological Project, which this, what are we to make of in- and diverse. This paper focuses focuses at the moment on the dividuals who owned and used on a number of cases attested Hellenistic city of Artaxata in not just one, but multiple seals at Tell Bi’a, Tell al-Rimah, Tell the Ararat valley. throughout their lifetimes? By Leilan, and Mari to discuss the

CYLINDER SEAL AND MODERN IMPRESSION

Stone, shell Iraq, Tutub (modern Khafajah), Sin Temple II (Q42:41) Late Uruk–Jamdat Nasr periods (3350–2900 bc) Excavated in 1936–37 A21448, C8900

Goat on hind legs nibbling stylized tree in front of a temple.

12 SEALING THEORIES AND PRACTICES IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST visual, functional, social, and these seal impressions has been OI SEMINAR ideological aspects of multiple much debated since then and PUBLICATIONS seal ownership, as well as ques- the various explanations offered tions of agency of the owners. still leave many fundamental Structures of Power: Law and The paper aims to show how a questions unanswered. This pre- Gender Across the Ancient holistic approach that integrates sentation discusses the views Near East and Beyond (OIS 12) iconography, texts, and archae- expressed thus far and proposes Ilan Peled, ed. ological context can shed light an alternative that sheds an in- on this complex practice, and The Late Third Millennium teresting light on a thus far unin the Ancient Near East: the relationship between seal known aspect of the workings Chronology, C14, and Climate owners and their seals. of the Hittite administration. Change (OIS 11) Felix Höflmayer, ed. Bio: Oya Topçuoğlu is a lec- Bio: Theo van den Hout (PhD, turer in the Middle East and University of Amsterdam, Household Studies in North African Studies program 1989) is the Arthur and Joann Complex Societies: (Micro) at Northwestern University. She Rasmussen Professor of Archaeological and Textual holds a PhD in Near Eastern Western Civilization and of Approaches (OIS 10) Miriam Müller, ed. art and archaeology from the Hittite and Anatolian Languages University of Chicago. Her re- at the Oriental Institute of the Heaven on Earth: Temples search addresses issues of iden- University of Chicago, and chief Ritual, and Cosmic Symbolism tity and cultural exchange, and editor of the Chicago Hittite in the Ancient World (OIS 9) the effects of political change Dictionary (CHD). He is the au- Deena Ragavan, ed. and ideology on the visual cul- thor of several books, most re- Iconoclasm and Text ture of the ancient Near East. cently The Elements of Hittite She specializes in cylinder seals Destruction in the Ancient Near (Cambridge University Press, East and Beyond (OIS 8) and sealing practices, focusing 2011), and many articles. His Natalie Naomi May, ed. on the role of seal imagery and latest book, A History of Hittite inscription in the construction Literacy: Writing and Reading Slaves and Households in the of political power and ideology. in Late Bronze Age Anatolia, Near East (OIS 7) Laura Culbertson, ed. She also studies political and is due out in 2020. Theo is a pedagogical uses of the ancient corresponding member of the Divination and Interpretation past, its role in the formation of Royal Dutch Academy of Arts of Signs in the Ancient World national identities in the mod- and Sciences, a 2016 fellow of (OIS 6) ern Middle East, and the history the John Simon Guggenheim Amar Annus, ed. of museums and archaeology in Memorial Foundation, and a se- the region. Her recent work also Nomads, Tribes, and the State nior fellow at the Institute for explores the looting and traf- in the Ancient Near East: Cross- the Study of the Ancient World ficking of antiquities from Syria disciplinary Perspective (OIS 5) at New York University. and Iraq, and Mesopotamian an- Jeffrey Szuchman, ed. tiquities on the internet market. Religion and Power: Divine TASHA VORDERSTRASSE Kingship in the Ancient World Respondant, University of and Beyond (OIS 4) THEO VAN DEN HOUT Chicago, Oriental Institute Nicole Brisch, ed. University of Chicago, Performing Death: Social Oriental Institute Bio: Tasha Vorderstrasse is Analyses of Funerary Traditions the University and Continuing PREVENTING FRAUD AND in the Ancient Near East and FORGERY OF SEALS IN THE Education Program coordina- Mediterranean (OIS 3) tor at the Oriental Institute. HITTITE KINGDOM Nicola Laneri, ed. (Session 1 | Thursday, 10:30) She received her PhD in Near Eastern archaeology from the Margins of Writing, Origins of Cultures (OIS 2) Abstract: A hoard of over University of Chicago in 2004. 3,400 seal impressions was Her work concentrates on the Seth L. Sanders, ed. found in situ in the Hittite capi- material culture of the Middle Changing Social Identity with the tal Hattusa in 1990–91 (and a East, Caucasus, and Central Asia Spread of Islam: Archaeological few smaller ones that were al- and the relations between these Perspectives (OIS 1) ready known). The function of areas and China. Donald Whitcomb, ed.

THE 16TH ANNUAL UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ORIENTAL INSTITUTE SEMINAR 13 notes

14 SEALING THEORIES AND PRACTICES IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST Draw your own seal!

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OIP 117. Seals on the Persepolis Fortification OIP 118. Scarabs, Scaraboids, Seals, and Seal Tablets, volume I: Images of Heroic Encounter Impressions from Medinet Habu

Mark B. Garrison and Margaret Cool Root Emily Teeter, with a contribution by T. G. Wilfong

This is the first volume of the analytically For nearly 1,500 years Medinet Habu (modern Luxor) legible seals preserved on Elamite played a central role in Egyptian religion, life, and administrative tablets recovered during the politics. This volume presents descriptions and 1930s excavations at Persepolis and dated to illustrations detailing 349 scarabs, amulets, seals, the years 509–494 bc in the reign of Darius and seal impressions from Medinet Habu that date the Great. This major corpus documents 312 from approximately 1470 bc to the eighth century seals of heroic encounter with high quality ad. These scarabs and scaraboids comprise one composite drawings; its entries provide of the largest groups of such material excavated commentary on administrative, social, stylistic, from any site in Egypt, and this corpus provides a and iconographical features of the seals as valuable reference for unprovenanced scarabs in well as systematic analysis of seal application other collections. The seals and seal impressions patterns, offering extraordinary new material constitute a wide variety of material that is rarely for the study of art and social history in the published but is important for understanding life and Achaemenid Persian Empire. administration in ancient Egypt.

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