Sasanian Seals and Bullae at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Stratified context at the site of Sharafabad on the Iranian plateau dates the first attestations of the use of cylinder seals for sealings to the fourth millennium BCE, which is coterminous with their use in Mesopotamia during the Middle Uruk Period.1 In the ancient Near East, both cylinder seals and stamp seals were used as signatures in daily commerce as well as for economic or legal transactions by those in charge of the state or city administration. In time, the use of stamp seals became infrequent and cylinder seals were used until the late Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian periods, when stamp seals reappeared and the use of cylinder seals was eventually abandoned.2 By the Sasanian period (224–651 CE), only stamp seals were used by officials and individuals. Their use continued into the Islamic period, gradually using the Arabic script in lieu of Aramaic.
Seals were used as signatures for economic transactions of commodities when they were pressed onto clay (bulla) as well as attached to parchment, leather, or a paper document (dib, nāmag, wizīr, frawardag). Private individuals who engaged in business or partnership (hambāyīh) with others—mainly their co-religionists—used seals for contractual documents and agreements (pašn), or for litigation.3 In addition, there are administrative seals used by tax collectors/accountants (āmārgar), governors (šahrab), and other important officials, such as the provincial governor (ōstāndār). In the legal sphere, judges (dādwar) and, from the sixth century CE, the Protector of the Poor and Jude (driyōšān jādaggōw ud dādwar) possessed seals. They were also used by religious officials who either dealt with taxation and administrative or religious matters, including priests (mow) and head priests (mowbed).4 In the military, the cavalry commanders (aspbed), generals (spāhbed), and others placed their seals on documents pertaining to military matters.5 Seals were important enough to be discussed many times in the Sasanian legal text The Book of A Thousand Judgements, where the legal power of seals and the issue of their authenticity is discussed. For example, Chapter 99, Clauses 1–3 state, “The letter which a man sealed with his seal (muhr), if (among) the trustworthy seals on (this document) there is also another seal whose forgery/destruction has not been declared, then, inasmuch as it concerns the man who wrote and sealed this document with his authentic seal, it is to be considered as valid.”6
Seals were made from semiprecious stones such as carnelian, chalcedony, agate, jasper, onyx, and sard, as well as stones such as lapis lazuli, jadeiate, and carbonates. A few are made from marble, iron compounds like hematite, and meteoric iron, as well as bronze and glass.7 While at first the choice of material may not seem important, in fact they provide not only a personal choice but also a connection to the specific beliefs of the individuals. It has been suggested that the seals were worn around the neck and may have acted as a talisman or magic for the wearer. A Sogdian text on stones and their magical powers, which may shed light on the different colors and their effects on humans, enumerates the power of nine different stones.8
The seals were either placed on rings or tied around the neck or arm to be carried close by their owners. The most famous tradition about seal ownership is in regard to the last great Sasanian king of kings, Khosrow II (590–628 CE), who possessed nine seals that were used as signets (nīšān) for various orders pertaining to war, religion, and administration.9 Mas’udī provides textual details for the images on some of the rings held by Khosrow II which are instructive with regards to the personal choice of the ruler. We are told that among his seals, one had the image of the king, another a horseman, a third an eagle, and finally, one with the head of a boar. They were also made of different materials, namely that of diamond, gold, and iron.10 Certainly, the shape, the make, and the stone each had a special significance for the various uses by the king of kings and the populace at large. For individuals, it is likely only one seal was used as the private signature for all of his or her activities.
The seals and their impressions on clay (i.e., the bulla) provide us with substantial information about the culture and social history of late antique Ērānšahr (the Iranian Realm). The costume, headdress, jewelry, facial hair, or zoological and heraldic symbols tell us much about the people who lived and died between the third and ninth centuries CE.11 The legends on the seals provide further information on gender, the personal choice of the owner, and her/his religious beliefs—mainly belonging to Zoroastrians, as well as Jews and Christians.12 From the fifth century onward, when administrative seals became prevalent, they demonstrate the various officials, ranks, and the city or province over which they held sway.13
The study of Sasanian seals has a long history, but the first serious study and classification of Sasanian seals began with Robert Göbl’s Der sāsānidische Siegelkanon in 1973.14 In the 1970s systematic study of Sasanian seals took place with the excavations at Qasr-e Abu Nasr, the subsequent publication of the material, and the Sasanian seal collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.15 Since then, Philippe Gignoux carried on the systematic study of various collections in the 1970s and continued with Rika Gyselen in the late 1970s and 1980s when they published many collections around the world.16 Today, Gyselen is the foremost scholar in this field and has provided us with a vast array of studies on almost all aspects of Sasanian seals.17 As a result of her work, there are only private collections and new archives that can provide further information on new aspects of the administrative life of the Sasanian Empire and of the first two centuries of the Islamic period.18
The Freer Collection
Sealing with seal impressions
There are 106 seals and one bulla in the Freer collection.19 Thirty-four of these seals, as well as the bulla, contain Pahlavi legends. These include mostly images of animals, both real and mythological, but also busts of individuals, gestures, and monograms. They largely belonged to private individuals, which is the case for most collections and finds from the Sasanian world. Based on the slogans and imagery on the seals, it may be that they belonged overwhelmingly to Zoroastrians. For example, F1993.18.23 has the legend aštād, the female deity designating justice, which in Zoroastrian Pahlavi texts judges the deeds of the soul at the end of time.20 However, there are several seals with the legend rāst or rāsty, meaning “Truth” or “Righteousness,” which the Christians also used as slogans in the Sasanian period. The same may be said of the legend abestān (F1993.18.20), meaning “Reliance” or “Refuge” in God, which both Zoroastrians and Christians used on their seals.
Furthermore, two seals pertain to the administrative sphere. F1993.18.37 belongs to a Zoroastrian priest (mow), a common religious office from the village or town of Xwadādegān. The location of Xwadādegān cannot be identified, but one may assume that its priest was in charge of the religious affairs of the village and carried out some administrative duties. On the other hand, there is F1993.18.32, which is associated with the northern Iranian Plateau, namely the region of Māh (Media). However, the office does not appear on the seal, which may mean that it was owned by an individual who wished to mention the place whence he came. If this is the case, then it is among the rare seals that indicate the person with his place of residence.
NOTE: This essay refers to “legends” on the seals. The term “inscriptions” is used elsewhere in this online catalogue.
Endnote
1 Megan Lewis and Marian Feldman, “Cylinder Seals and the Development of Writing in Early Mesopotamia,” OpenStax-CNX (2015), 10.
2 Gustavus A. Eisen, Ancient Oriental Cylinder and Other Seals with a Description of the Collection of Mrs. William H. Moore (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1940), 20.
3 Jamsheed K. Choksy, “Loan and Sales Contracts in Ancient and Early Medieval Iran,” Indo-Iranian Journal 31, no. 3 (1988), 139.
4 Rika Gyselen, La géographie administrative de l'empire sassanide. Les témoignages sigillographiques, Res Orientalis I (Paris: Groupe pour l'étude de la civilisation du Moyen-Orient, 1989), xi–xii.
5 Rika Gyselen, Sasanian Seals and Sealings in the A. Saeedi Collection, Acta Iranica 44 (Lovanii: Peeters, 2007), 57; Rika Gyselen, The Four Generals of the Sasanian Empire: some Sigillographic Evidence (Roma: Istituto Italiano per lÀfrica e lOriente, 2001).
6 Anahit Perikhanian, The Book of A Thousand Judgements (A Sasanian Law-Book), translated by Nina Garsoïan (Costa Mesa, Calif: Mazda, 1997), 225.
7 Nils C. Ritter, “Gemstones in Pre-Islamic Persia: Social and Symbolic Meanings of Sasanian Seals,” in Gemstones in the First Millennium AD: Mines, Trade, Workshops and Symbolism, edited by Susanne Greiff, Alexandra Hilgner, and Dieter Quast (Mainz: Verlag des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums, 2017), 281.
8 Samra Azarnouche and Frantz Grenet, “Thaumaturgie sogdienne: Nouvelle édition et commentaire du texte P.3,” Studia Iranica 39 (1990), 31–37.
9 Touraj Daryaee, “A Note on the Great Seal of King Perōz and Middle Persian nycny,” Indo-Iranian Journal 48 (2005), 196.
10 Ali Shahidi, “The Seals of Khusro Parviz,” Nāme-ye Irān-e Bāstān: The International Journal of Ancient Iranian Studies 6 (2006–2007), 40; Ritter, “Gemstones in Pre-Islamic Persia: Social and Symbolic Meanings of Sasanian Seals, 287.
11 Phillipe Gignoux, Catalogue des sceaux, camées et bulles sasanides de la Bibliothèque National et du Musée de Louvre (Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale, 1978); Phillipe Gignoux and Rika Gyselen, Sceaux sasanides de diverses collections privées (Leuven: Peeters, 1982); Phillipe Gignoux and Rika Gyselen, “Sceaux sasanides de diverses collections,” Cahiers de Studia Iranica 1 (Leuven 1982); Phillipe Gignoux and Rika Gyselen, “Bulles et sceaux sassanides de diverses collections,” Cahiersde Studia Iranica 4 (Paris 1987).
12 Regarding gender, see Phillipe Gignoux and Rika Gyselen, “Sceaux de femmes à l'époque sassanide,” in ArchaeologiaIranica et Orientalis, Miscellanea in Honorem Louis Vanden Berghe, edited by Léon De Meyer and Ernie Haerinck (Gent: Peeters, 1989); Regarding religious beliefs, see Rika Gyselen, “Quelque éléments d'iconographie religieuse dans la glyptique sassanide,” in Contribution à l'histoire de l'Iran: mélanges offerts à Jean Perrot, edited by François Vallat (Paris: Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1990), 253–267; Regarding Zoroastrianism, see Rika Gyselen, “Les sceaux des mages de l'Iran sassanide,” in Au Carrefour des religions: Mélanges offerts à Philippe Gignoux, Res Orientalis VII (Bures-sur-Yvette: Groupe pour l'étude de la civilisation du Moyen-Orient, 1995), 121–150; For Judaism, see Daniel M. Friedenberg, Sasanian Jewry and Its Culture: A Lexicon of Jewish and Related Seals (University of Illinois Press, 2009); For Christianity, see Judith A. Lerner, Christian Seals of the Sasanian Period (Leiden 1977); and Rika Gyselen, “Les témoignages sigillographiques sur la présence chrétienne dans l’Empire Sassanide,” in Chrétiens en terre d'Iran: Implantation et Acculturation, edited by Rika Gyselen (Paris: Association pour l'avancement des études iraniennes, 2006), 17–78.
13 Rika Gyselen, La géographie administrative de l'empire sassanide. Les témoignages sigillographiques. Res Orientalis I (Paris: Groupe pour l'étude de la civilisation du Moyen-Orient, 1989).
14 Paul Horn and Georg Steindorff, Sasanidische Siegelsteine (Berlin: W Spemann, 1891); Robert Göbl, Der sāsānidische Siegelkanon (Braunschweig: Klinkhardt und Biermann, 1973).
15 For the excavations at Qasr-e Abu Nasr, see Richard N. Frye, Sasanian Remains from Qasr-i Abu Nasr: Seals, Sealings, and Coins (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1973); For the Metropolitan Museum of Art collection, see Christopher Brunner, Sasanian Stamp Seals in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York: Lund Humphries, 1978).
16 For Gignoux’s studies, see hillipe Gignoux, “Les bulles sassanides de Qasr-I Abu Nasr,” in Mémorial jean de Menasce, edited by Phillipe Gignoux and Ahmed Tafazzoli (Louvain: Impr. orientaliste, 1974), 169–187; Phillipe Gignoux, Catalogue des sceaux, camées et bulles sasanides de la Bibliothèque National et du Musée de Louvre (Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale, 1978); For a complete bibliography of Gyselen’s study, see Rika Gyselen, Sasanian Seals and Sealings in the A. Saeedi Collection, 2007.
17 Ibid.
18 Regarding private collections, see Rika Gyselen and Touraj Daryaee, “Rayy During the Sasanian Period based on Primary Sources,” Iran Nameh 29.2 (2014), 36–48; Regarding new archives, see Touraj Daryaee and Keyvan Safdari, “Spāhbed Bullae: The Barakat Collection,” e-Sasanika 7 (2010).
19 The Pahlavi bulla in the Freer collection has three stamps. The legend is decorated with nine dots. There are only two attestations of this toponym so far. See Rika Gyselen, Nouveaux matériaux pour la géographie historique de l'empire sassanide: sceaux administratifs de la collection Ahmad Saeedi (Paris: Assoc. pour l'Avancement des Études Iraniennes, 2002), 66.
20 Gherardo Gnoli, “Aštād,” Encyclopeadia Iranica, edited by E. Yarshater, 1987, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/astad-mid.
