CHAPTER SEVEN
BABYLONIAN SEALS^1
Dominique Collon
THE OLD BABYLONIAN PERIODT
he kingdoms set up by the Semitic Amorite rulers of Mesopotamia after the fall
of the Third Dynasty of Ur inherited cuneiform writing on clay and the
administrative practices of their Sumerian predecessors, adapted for their own language
and requirements. They also adopted the cylinder seal for ratifying documents.
Until then, writing, and therefore sealing, had been restricted to those involved
in a highly centralised administration. With the multiplication of small kingdoms,
there was an explosion in literacy and a concomitant use of seals. There are far more
cylinder seals preserved for the 400 years of the Old Babylonian period (here understood
to include the dynasties of Isin and Larsa), than for any other period in the history
of the cylinder seal, and there is also far more evidence for the rules governing the
administrative use of the seals than at any other period.
Cylinder seals were a particularly Mesopotamian sealing device used from about
3400 BCfor some 3 , 000 years for marking ownership, protecting property and later,
particularly in the Old Babylonian period, for sealing letters and contracts written
on clay. Under Mesopotamian influence their use and iconography were adapted in
neighbouring countries. They are, as the name implies, cylinders, perforated vertically
so that they could be worn on a pin or cord. They were generally made of stone,
carved in intaglio with a design, and sometimes an inscription, in reverse, that would
appear as a repeating relief in positive when the seal was rolled out on clay (see Figures
7. 1 and 7. 2 ).^2 Over the millennia, the designs changed, and provide insights into
various aspects of contemporary life. Cylinder seals could also be used as amulets and
items of jewellery.
The Amorites inherited the extremely formalised glyptic of the Third Dynasty of
Ur, when seals had generally been carved from dark chlorite, although haematite –
a term used to include other visually similar iron oxides such as goethite and magnetite
- was just beginning to make its appearance. Haematite, probably obtained from
south-eastern Turkey, is difficult to work, but it is a fine-grained, hardwearing material
that produces extremely clear images, and it is therefore still used for modern signet
rings. It can be highly polished to achieve a metallic grey-black lustre and the design
is clearly visible on the actual seal and not just on the impression (Figure 7. 3 a–e).