Seals on Greek (-Arabic) papyri of the Arab period
1. General remarks
2. Provisional list
3. A scriptura interior at the bottom of the papyrus
4. Arab signatures in the form of a seal
Our study does not include seals on
papyri of the Arab period. Below I give some provisional remarks. I hope
to study them in detail in the near future at the recommandation of K.A.
Worp. I refer the reader for the present to the survey in CPR III.1, p.
78 and to the exposé of N. ABBOTT on the seals in the Arab
period in general (with several references to seals mentioned in PERF )
and especially on the ca. 50 seals found on the Kurrah papyri from Aphodito.
Arab people prefer to use seals with a legend, whereas Greek and Coptic
secretaries continue to use their Byzantine seals (with representations)
.
N. ABBOTT, The Kurrah Papyri from Aphodito, no. II and III
PSR/Rainerschott I/ P. Heid. I: III, IV and XI; PSR a-1 (Kurrah Papyri from Aphodito)
P. Ross. Georg. IV 2, 4 and 11 (Kurrah Papyri from Aphodito)
NPAF: C.H. Becker, Neue arabische Papyri des Aphroditofundes I, XII, XIII and XIV (Kurrah Papyri from Aphodito)
P. Lond. IV 432 (Kurrah Papyri from Aphodito: 28 seals belong to the British Museum Aphrodito papyri)
PERF no. 4-15 (Clay seals on Coptic and Arabic letters, VIII-IX A.D., see our list no. 92a)
PERF no. 556 (Arabic letter, A.D. 643, Untersiegelung)
PERF no. 567 (Arabic-Greek order, A.D. 644/656)
PERF no. 577 (Coptic acquittal, VII A.D.)
PERF no. 578 (Greek letter, VII A.D.)
PERF no. 578 (Greek declaration, VII A.D.)
PERF no. 580 (Greek tax receipt, VII A.D.)
PERF no. 589 [Facs. seal ed.] (Arabic tax receipt, VII-VIII A.D., seal with a Greek-Arabic inscription, having the name of the tax official in Arabic "Es nimmt seine Zuflucht zu Gott, Negid" and in Greek uncials "Negid")
PERF no. 593 (Kurrah Papyrus from Aphodito, Arabic-Greek letter, A.D. 710)
PERF no. 696 (Arabic-Greek letter, A.D. 819)
PERF no. 697 (Arabic-Greek letter, A.D. 820)
PERF no. 698 (Arabic purchase contract, A.D. 821)
PERF no. 702 (Arabic tax receipt, A.D. 821)
PERF no. 717 (Arabic-Greek tax receipt, A.D. 831)
PERF no. 718 (Arabic tax receipt, A.D. 831)
PERF no. 724 (Arabic tax receipt, A.D. 838, there are two impressions on the same seal)
PERF no. 725 (Arabic tax receipt, A.D. 838)
PERF no. 726 (Arabic-Greek tax receipt, A.D. 839)
PERF no. 737 (Arabic-Greek tax receipt, A.D. 840)
PERF no. 746 (Arabic-Greek tax receipt, A.D. 841) PERF no. 756 (Arabic-Greek tax receipt, A.D. 848)
PERF no. 757 (Arabic receipt, IX A.D.)
PERF no. 758 (Arabic tax receipt, A.D. 851/2)
PERF no. 776 (Arabic tax receipt, A.D. 862)
PERF no. 777 (Arabic tax receipt, A.D. 862)
PERF no. 854 (Arabic letter, A.D. 896)
PERF no. 866 (Arabic-Greek tax receipt, A.D. 900)
PERF no. 867 (Arabic tax receipt, A.D. 904)
PERF no. 868 (Arabic letter, IX-X A.D.)
PERF no. 869 (Arabic letter, IX-X A.D.)
PERF no. 887 (Arabic-Greek tax receipt, A.D. 910)
PERF no. 893 (Arabic-Greek tax receipt, A.D. 913/4)
PERF no. 908 (Arabic-Greek tax receipt, A.D. 932)
PERF no. 959 (Arabic tax receipt, A.D. 941)
PERF no. 995 (Arabic-Greek letter, A.D. 954/5, seal on verso)SB VIII 9749 (=Ét. pap. 8 (1957), p. 9 no. 2) [ph. pap. Ét. pap. pl. 1] (A.D. 642, Herakleopolis
Greek acknowledgment of the delivery of corn
Seal lost, but in the letter is written: "As a documentary proof for you I have drafted the present declaration, written by my notary, to which I have attached my usual seal (bouvlla)".SB VIII 9756 (= Ét. pap. 8 (1957), p. 31 no. 9; PERF no. 565) [ph. pap. Ét. pap. pl. 5, ph. seal p. 31]
(Greek tax receipt addressed to the inhabitants of the city of Herakleopolis, A.D. 653, seal : «showing the bust of a male person, holding the imperial globe with a cross in his right hand, apparently the official seal of the former Greek governor of the nome»)CPR IV 1 [ph. pap. Der Lebenskreis der Kopten (MPER NS 25), p. 260]
(Greek acquittal = sigillion, VII-VIII A.D., Arabic seal, belonging to the sender, as the text has: "I have written to you and sealed with my seal (bouvlla)")
3. A scriptura interior at the bottom of the papyrus
K.A. Worp drew my attention to a particular
phenomenon found in papyri of the Arab period. In some texts, mainly tax
receipts, the total amount was repeated in the last line; then the lower
part of the papyrus containing this line, was sealed . This practice is
attested for Greek(-Arabic) papyri, but undoubtedly also occured in Coptic
receipts: CPR IV 5, for instance, repeats the total amount in a new line
at the end and probably was also sealed afterwards. Also other types of
documents could have a scriptura interior at the bottom, for instance,
an Arabic travelling passport issued by the provicial governor (Ashmunein,
A.D. 722) .
SB XX 14234 (= AfP 38 (1992), p. 34, no. 2) A.D. 729, Leukogion
Greek tax receipt
Seal: lostSB XX 14236 (= AfP 38 (1992), p. 36, no. 4) VIII A.D., Mouchis
Greek(-Arabic) order
Seal: lostSB XVIII 13268 (= AfP 33 (1987), p. 73, no. 1) A.D. 722, Fayum
Greek tax receipt
Seal: «ein vierbeiniges Tier mit einer Wellenlinie über dem Rücken»SB XVIII 13269 (= AfP 33 (1987), p. 75, no. 2) A.D. 719, Fayum
Greek tax receipt
Seal: «ein vierbeiniges Tier mit einer Wellenlinie über dem Rücken»SB XVIII 13270 (= AfP 33 (1987), p. 75, no. 3) A.D. 719, Fayum
[ph. pap. ed. pl. 17]
Greek tax receipt
Seal: «ein vierbeiniges Tier mit einer Wellenlinie über dem Rücken»SB XVIII 13271 (= AfP 33 (1987), p. 76, no. 4) A.D. 721, ?
[ph. pap. ed. pl. 18]
Greek tax receipt
Seal: «eine nach links blickende, (auf einem Stuhl?) sitzende oder hockende Figur (eine Frau?) mit erhobenem Arm»SB XVIII 13272 (= AfP 33 (1987), p. 76, no. 5) VIII A.D., Fayum
[ph. pap. ed. pl. 19]
Greek tax receipt
Seal: «eine nach links gewandte Figur mit einem Gegenstand vor sich und etwa fünf Buchstaben»SB VI 9262 (= Aegyptus 32 (1952), p. 257-264)
Greek tax receipt VIII A.D., Fayum
Seal with Arabic legend: «‘Bi-LLaho nasry Muhammadun’ = ‘En Dieu est mon secours. Muhammad’»P. Grenf. II 105 and 106 (= Tapha 69 (1938), p. 289)
Greek-Arabic tax receipt A.D. 719, Herakleopolis
Seal with Arabic legend: ‘Believe in God and his apostles’.CPR VIII 73, 76, 77, 79 VII-VIII A.D., ? Fayum
Greek tax receipts
Seals are lost, see CPR VIII, p. 206-207CPR VIII 74 (= PERF 587) A.D. 698, Fayum
[ph. pap. ed. pl. 38]
Greek tax receipt
Seal: «Thonsiegel des Pagarchen: der Ianuskopf», see also PERF no. 586CPR VIII 81 VII-VIII A.D., Fayum
[ph. pap. ed. pl. 37]
Greek tax receiptP. Lond. V 1738 A.D. 680 or 710, ? Oxyrhynchos
Greek tax receipt
Seal: «indistinct device, perhaps of two human figures facing each other»P. Lond. V 1743 Arab period, ? Oxyrhynchos
Greek tax receipt
Seal: «indistinct device. At the bottom is what looks like a crocodile, and the device above this may possibly be two brids' (ibis?) heads with beaks, with a cross between them»P. Lond. V 1749 A.D. 680 or 710, ? Oxyrhynchos
Greek tax receipt
Seal: «too much broken for any device to be recognized»SB VIII 9759 (Ét. pap. 8 (1957), p. 36 no. 12)
[ph. pap. Ét. pap. pl. 7, facs. seal p. 37] VII A.D., Kom el-Haryane (Fayum)
Greek tax receipt
Seal : «shows the name of the tributary Thomas in Greek letters arranged in form of a cross-shaped monogram».SB VIII 9760 (Ét. pap. 8 (1957), p. 38 no. 13)
[ph. pap. Ét. pap. pl. 7] VII A.D., Kom el-Haryane (Fayum)
Greek demand note for a part payment of wages
Seal has an Arabic inscription, containing «the name of the tax official who issued the demand note»: "Abu Haim, son of Iahye, save me, oh God".For papyri with a scriptura interior at the bottom, see furthermore:
Ägyptisches Museum Berlin, no. 1179 and plate
(Arabic travelling passport, A.D. 722)
PERF no. 601-602 (Arabic travelling passports, A.D. 734)
PERF no. 667 (Arabic-Greek ‘Amtlicher Bestellbrief’, A.D. 811)
PERF no. 668 [pl. XIV] (Arabic-Greek ‘Amtlicher Bestellbrief’, A.D. 812)
PERF no. 670 [pl. XIV] (Arabic tax receipt, A.D. 812)
PERF 559
[Facs. seal ed.] A.D. 643, Herakleopolites
Arabic order from the "Corps-Commandanten Abdallah ibn Dchabir"
Seal : «nach rechts schreitenden Hund, darüber w (...) Unsere Urkunde ist wahrscheinlich mit dem alten griechischen Siegel von Cynopolis (...) besiegelt worden, wo neben Anubis der Hund besondere Verehrung genoß.»Et. de pap. 8 (1957), p. 19 = SB 8 9751, 643 A.D.:
seal: "nach rechts schreitenden Hund, darüber w".
4. Arab signatures in the form of a seal
Few texts contain an arabic signature in the form of a seal, appended underneath the text. They are probably all drawn by the hand of the sysymbolaiographos Paulos from Herakleopolis. See W. Gardthausen, in Stud. Pal., p. 1*-12*, esp. p. 8*, and K.A. Worp, in P. Rainer Cent., p. 422: "gezeichneten Siegeln wo normalerweise Siegel aus Ton die Papyri verschlossen."
P. Rainer Cent. 121 A.D. 719/720, Herakleopolis
[ph. pap. and ‘seal’ ed. pl. 94]
Arab signature by the symbolaiographos [Paulos], see P. Rainer Cent., p. 422.Stud. Pal. III 343 VI-VII A.D. (ca. 720), Herakleopolis
[Facs. ed. and ph. ‘seal’ P. Rainer Cent. pl. 94]
Arab signature by the symbolaiographos Paulos, see P. Rainer Cent., p. 422.Stud. Pal. III 46 VI-VII A.D. (ca. 720), Herakleopolis
[Facs. ed.]
Arab signature by the symbolaiographos [? Paulos], see P. Rainer Cent., p. 422.