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Twelve New Bronze and Iron Age Seals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2017

John J. Reich
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Extract

The ten Minoan and two Island seals, which are here published for the first time (plate X), form part of the Bosanquet Collection of the City of Liverpool Museum. Although there exists a card-index for the collection, the entries for these twelve seals give no indication of their provenience: apart from No. 9 below which is described as having been ‘bought in Athens’ there is no record of whether they were found in the course of excavation or were purchased by Professor R. C. Bosanquet. Bosanquet was himself, with R. M. Dawkins, one of the original excavators of the site of Palaikastro, but there is no evidence to show that the Minoan seals were discovered on or near the site; and in the absence of any indication, their origin must remain unknown.

The seals themselves are in varying states of preservation. No. 7 is perhaps the least satisfactory, showing signs of extreme wear, although several of the others are by no means negligible additions to the Corpus. Nos. 1, 3 and 5 in particular are excellent representatives of their type. Indeed these ten Minoan stones offer a surprisingly wide sample of the total range of Minoan Glyptic, from the three-sided prism seal of MM IA (No. 1) to two LM III lentoids (Nos. 9–10), and including on the way examples of hieroglyphic, architectural and talismanic designs. Of the remaining two, No. 11 is a good and characteristic example of the Melian winged creature type, while No. 12 is a curious and enigmatic seal, probably also to be regarded as an Island gem.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 86 , November 1966 , pp. 159 - 165
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1966

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References

1 The seals are published here by kind permission of the City of Liverpool Museum, and I am grateful to Mr T. Hume, the Director, and his staff for providing impressions. I must also acknowledge a great debt of gratitude to Dr V. E. G. Kenna, who has given both detailed advice on matters of chronology and help and suggestions on a number of points throughout the preparation of this paper. I have also had the benefit of Mr John Boardman's advice on several matters. The less obvious abbreviations are as follows:

S.H. diameter of the string hole.

D.F. diameter of the face.

All measurements are given in millimetres.

2 Professor of Archaeology in the University of Liverpool, 1906–20.

3 Kadmos ii/2 (1963) 151.

4 Palace of Minos ii 244, fig. 141a.

5 Cf. JWES v (1946) 284–316.

6 Cf. the rider from Susa ( Mequenem, R. de and Scheil, V. in Mem. Miss. arquéol. Iran xxix (1943)Google Scholar and the Khafaje Vase.

7 For a full discussion of this subject see Zeuner, F. E., A History of Domesticated Animals (1963) 299–337.Google Scholar Cf. also JHS lxxxiii (1963) 197.

8 If Childe's later dating of the Tripolye culture is accepted, this is the first domesticated horse in the whole of Europe.

9 Palace of Minos ii 156, fig. 78.

10 Ibid. 157, fig. 79.

11 The drawings for figs. 1 and 2 have been made by Jonathan A. Robertson.

12 Kenna, V. E. G., Cretan Seals (1960) 94 Google Scholar; pl. 3. All seal numbers prefaced by the letter K refer to this work.

13 Palace of Minos iv 520, n. 4.

14 BSA ix (1902) 88, fig. 59.

15 The problems of the swastika are discussed in: Xenaki-Sakellariou, A., Les Cachets minoens de la Collection Giamalakis (Études Crétoises x (1958)) 7.Google Scholar Cf. also Higgins, , BSA lii (1957) 51.Google Scholar

16 Evans, , Scripta Minoa i (1909) no. 99, P. 218.Google Scholar

17 Kenna, op. cit., 98, pl. 4.

18 Scripta Minoa i 154.

19 Ibid., 161.

20 Ibid., 170.

21 In connexion with this subject it is worth pointing out that the Spiral sign, which appears on faces (b) and (c) of this seal, may itself be more than a simple ornament. In several inscriptions, notably P 74a 1 (Scripta Minoa i 162) and K172 (Kenna, op. cit., 113) it occurs as the sole qualifying sign of a common formulaic group. These and other similar examples may suggest that the Spiral was used with a definite significance instead of—or in addition to—being used as a decorative element.

22 Evans, nos. 44B, 11.

23 Evans, no. 92.

24 Scripta Minoa i 162.

25 Ibid. 272.

26 Kenna, op. cit., pl. 6.

27 For other examples of similar seals see Kenna, op. cit., no, K 152–64.

28 Palace of Minos i 565, fig. 411a, b.

29 Ibid. 304 ff.

30 Ibid. ii 421, fig. 242.

31 JHS xxii (1902) 88, nos. 130, 131, 133; pl. x.

32 Especially K158 and K163, and to a lesser extent K160 and K161; but cf. by contrast K155 and K156.

33 Cf. Kenna, op. cit., 44.

34 Further examples of Talismanic Gems showing the flying eagle can be found in: Xenaki-Sakellariou, A., Les Cachets minoens de la Collection Giamalakis (Études Cretoises x (1958)) 70, nos. 418–25; pl. xxx.Google Scholar

35 For a full discussion of the development of the Talismanic Gem, see Kenna, op. cit. 68, Appendix III.

36 BCH lxx (1939) 81, fig. 3 (2b).

37 Frankfort, H., Cylinder Seals (1939) pl. xig.Google Scholar

38 Kenna, op. cit., 135; pl. 13; cf. also K368, p. 141; pl. 14.

39 Xen. Sak., op. cit., 51, no. 335; pl. xxvi.

40 Kenna, op. cit., 121; pl. 9.

41 Ibid. 118, pl. 9.

42 Ibid. K246–9, p. 124; pl. 10.

43 Cf. especially Xen. Sak., op. cit., nos. 237, 238, 249, pl. xxiv. No. 237 also appears to show a plant or shrub in the field.

44 Kenna, op. cit., 142, pl. 15.

45 Boardman, J., Island Gems (1963) 54–68.Google Scholar

46 Ibid. no. 253, pp. 63, 66; pl. ix.

47 Ibid. 19.

48 Ibid. 87.

49 Ibid. 64.

50 Ibid. 76, nos. 324–9.

51 Ibid. nos. 321–3.

52 Wace, and Thompson, , Prehistoric Thessaly (1912) 165 Google Scholar, fig. 112c, Boardman no. G22.

53 Kenna, op. cit., 142; pl. 15.