Egyptian antiquities, scarabs : an introduction to the study of Egyptian seals and signet rings.

  • Newberry, Percy E. (Percy Edward), 1869-1949.
Date:
1906
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Egyptian antiquities, scarabs : an introduction to the study of Egyptian seals and signet rings. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    52/332 (page 30)
    A scene in a tomb at Sakkara1 2 shows one of these officials carrying a pail of mud with a ladle in it, going to instruct his pupils. These “ sealers ” formed a regularly organized body, and served under a mer or “ superintendent.”3 The reader’s attention has already been drawn to the fact that the monarch was invested at his coronation with a Royal Signet, upon which his name and titles were engraved. In the earlier periods of Egyptian history this Royal Signet was, doubtless, either worn by the monarch himself or carried in some secure way about his person. We do not read in the inscriptions of the earliest dynasties of any “ Keeper of the Royal Seal,” as we find so frequently alluded to in the hieroglyphic texts from the Middle Kingdom onwards, and it would consequently appear as if the king himself in those early times attended to the business con- nected with his Treasury Department. Two important officials of the oldest period, how- ever, were closely concerned with the use of the seal, and their titles were derived from its name. One of these was the “ Sealer of the Honey [jars]” ; the other was the “ Divine Sealer,” “ Sealer of the God.” The first title3 Sealer of the Honey [jars],” was, 1 L., D., II, 103 a. 2 Mariette, Cat. Abyd., 855 ; The Story of Sane hat, 1. 300; L., D., II, El Assassif, Grab 25, c.d. 3 This title was formerly believed to signify “Treasurer of the King of Lower Egypt,” but it must be pointed out that byty, in the royal title, meant “ He that belongs to the bee,” or perhaps, “ the Bee-keeper.” Bees were the producers of the chief of primitive luxuries, and the use of honey and the offering of it instead of wine