Cylinder Seal with Hieroglyphs
Description
<p>This cylinder seal is inscribed with early hieroglyphic signs that most likely spell a personal name or title. A sign for the goddess Neith and the city sign are discernable. The seal is pierced lengthwise so as to be worn as a personal ornament that acted as both a marker of status and a protective charm. This seal dates to the First Dynasty (ca. 2960–2770 BCE), just at the beginning of the Egyptian state. Administrative cylinder seals also existed during this early period, however based on the known provenance of many of these seal-types—non-royal tombs—this seal’s function was most likely to help maintain the deceased’s funerary cult rather than to act as an administrative tool.</p><p>For the latest information about this object, <cite><a href='https://purl.thewalters.org/art/42.172' rel='external'>Cylinder Seal with Hieroglyphs</a></cite>, visit the Online Collection of the Walters Art Museum.</p>
Inscriptions (2)
English description
English description
Cross-references (2)
- Walters-AccNum 42.172 tier-2
- Walters-id 27176 tier-2
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Walters Art Museum (Egyptian).
- AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
- Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
- Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.