Stone Seals Collection -2999-0500

Summary

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Overview

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Abstract

Consists of 244 stones used in Mesopotamia and adjacent areas of the ancient Near East from prehistoric times to make impressions in clay, particularly seals on clay tablets and their envelopes.

Description

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Description

The Manuscripts Division holds a total of 244 stone seals from Mesopotamia, Syria, and other areas of the ancient Near East. The seals are in three collections, respectively assembled and donated by Moses Taylor Pyne (1855-1921), Class of 1877; Robert Garrett (1875-1961), Class of 1897; and Edward D. Balken (1874-1960), Class of 1897. The seals range in age from Sumerian and Akkadian examples of the 2nd and 3rd millennia BCE to Persian examples of the pre-Islamic Sassanian period. The stone seals are primarily cylinder seals and stamp seals carved from hematite, serpentine, steatite, chalcedony, chlorite, lapis lazuli, quartz, and other varieties of stone.

Superscripts are displayed in curly braces.

Collection Creator Biography

Collection History

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Acquisition

The seals were gifts of Moses Taylor Pyne (Princeton Class of 1877), Robert Garrett (Princeton Class of 1897), and Edward D. Balken (Princeton Class of 1897).

Processing Information

Folder inventory added by Feng Zhu '14 in 2012.

Access and Use

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Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Use Restrictions

Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish material from the collection must be requested from the Associate University Librarian for Rare Books and Special Collections.

Preferred Citation

Stone Seals Collection; 3000BCE-500, Manuscripts Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Find More

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Topics

• Antiquities

Subject Terms

• Civilization, Assyro-Babylonian
• History
• Iraq
• Middle East
• Sources

Genre Terms

• Seals (Numismatics)

Other Finding Aids

The finding aid is comprised of two unpublished preliminary listings: (1) Rudolf H. Mayr, "Preliminary Checklist of Stone Seals in the Princeton University Library"; and (2) Albrecht Goetze, "Mesopotamian Seals in the Collection of Robert Garrett." Cyrus H. Gordon wrote several brief articles relating in whole or part to the Princeton collections: "Seals from Ancient Western Asia," Princeton University Library Chronicle, vol. 12, no. 2 (1951), pp. 49-54; "Near Eastern Saeals and Cuneiform Tablets," Princeton University Library Chronicle, vol. 14, no. 1 (1952), pp. 45-46; “Near Eastern Seals in Princeton and Philadelphia,” Orientalia, new series, vol. 22, fasc. 3 (1953), pp. 242-50, plates 57-70. There is also one stone seal in the Scheide Library and a substantial collection of stone seals in the Princeton University Art Museum.

Contents and Arrangement

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Arrangement

The seals are numbered in three series: 1) Pyne, nos. 31-134; 2) Garrett, nos. 1-49, 136-143; and 3) Balken, nos. 1-77 (excluding 74, which is skipped.) In addition, there are 6 seals without accession numbers.

Series I. Moses Taylor Pyne, circa 2900 B.C.-651 A.D.

Series II. Robert Garrett, circa 2900 B.C.-651 A.D.

Series III. Edward D. Balken, circa 2330 B.C.-651 A.D.