SEAL, an intaglio or relief impression on wax, clay, paper, or other substance made from a die or matrix of metal or other material, by which the impression is produced, derived from the French sceau, scene, or sale!, first used in the 11th century ; the Latin :Vila tn. Seals, called thatem, were in use at the earliest period in Egypt, the matrix generally of square shape revolving in a large ring, or attached to a chain ; those of kings and high dignitaries of gold, silver, or precious stones, while the inferior people used scarabrei, kheperre of porcelain, or vitrified soapstone with the subject engraved in intaglio, set in rings as signets. Impressions or seals from these were made in fine Nile mud or clay, and attached by slips of papyri, linen or cord, to docu ments [ParrRes], while at a later period coloured wax and even lead were employed. [Mummy.] The engravings were deities, royal and other names, emblems and mottoes. Impressions of seals with tho names of Sheshank,Nafaarut,Amasie, and other monarchs, exist in the British Museum. Seals were extensively used by the Egyptians tombs were sealed with mortar, letters and other documents being rolled in a cylindrical form and sealed outside, and the sacred victims, bread, and other objects, were also sealed. The ancient Hebrews appear to have worn their signet-rings or Illitam as rings or bracelets (Gen. xxxviii. 18); they were made of engraved onyx (Exod. xxxix. (3), and documents were sealed with them. Ahab with his own hand ; Ahasuerus by his chancellor Ilaman, and Darius himself, Impressed the seals of their decrees. When Alexander the Great conquered Persia he used the seal of Darius for his rescripts in that country.
The signets of the Assyrians consist of cones of chalcedony and other stones pierced and engraved, which were set in rings or euspended to chains or cords : the principal device is a rampant lion pierced by a king, deities and other devices; they also used cylinders of green felspar and onyx, with kings, animate, and other objects, and inscrip tions containing the names and titles of kings, those of Sennacherib being found at Kouynojik (Layard, Nineveh and Babylon,' p. 151). Impressions from similar signets in fine clay were discovered in the ruins of Kouyunjik, and those of witnesses or contracting parties are found on clay documents. The use of cylinders, for this purpose, of hematite, steatite, chalcedony, and onyx was prevalent amongst the Babylonians, such being engraved with deities, zodiacal signs, and inscriptions, and continued under the I'ersians, who used by preference red cornclian, that of Darius or his viceroy having been found in Egypt. The Phcenichns appear to have employed gambrel of eornelian or sardonyx fur the same purpose, and the Etniscan signets were ecarabeei of the same or onyx, with devices of native deities, or the principal heroic and mythic personages of Greece, with Etruscan legends? At the earliest epoch the Greeks used impressions of worm-eaten pieces of wood. The use of signets and seals among the Greeks appears
to be as old as the 6th century s.c., the earliest example being the celebrated emerald ring engraved by Theodorus for Polyerates, tyrant of Samos. Such signets were called sphragides, sentata, senzcia, or semen feces, and were worn on the fourth finger of the left hand. Those of metal only were called apscpleoi, the stone itself Icing psephos, and the ehaton sphendone, ecnuzgeion, aposphragisma, ectyposna. The impression of the seal was made on a fine clay, the ge semantds or sealing earth, not wax. Seals were placed on doors, and on things in the house to prevent the pilfering of slaves. The seal itself was protected by a shell or scale.
The use of signets amongst the Romans appears to have been introduced by the Etruscans, whose gemmati annuli, or rings with stones, were subsequently used by the Romans as old as Tarquin the elder. Senators sent as ambassadors had a gold official signet given them by the State, but used an iron ring in private : gold rings or signets were limited to the senators and knights, and the jus annuli aurei, or rights of the gold ring, had a certain legal status under the Empire. But their use was extended by Tiberius to freedmen, by Severus Alexander and Aurelian to the troops, and under Justinian it had entirely disappeared. The signet of the Emperor was a state seal, generally engraved with his own portrait or favourite device. The chaton, or place which held the stone, was called pals. The various gems were engraved by excellent artists, who sometimes placed their names, or the name or initials of the possessor, on the stone; but glass seals, called by the Greeks sphragides leyalinai, and nitres gemmec by the Romans, were used by the poorer classes. These came first into use about 416 B.C. The impressions were made in Lemnian and sealing clay, cretala, sigillaris meta, stucco maat/zs, or still more fre quently wax. The Romans sealed bags of money, granaries, doors of female apartments, and other objects, but principally writings or letters ; the papyrus or tablet was tied up with a cord and the seal, sign um, placed on it ; wills particularly required seals, and tinder Nero the law ordered them to be pierced at the margin with a cord, which thrice passed round them, and the eeal was then applied, and the prretor required the seals of the coven witnesses to validate a -will. The devices of the seals of the emperors appear to have varied, and no particular symbol was used for the state seal Julius Caesar used Venus, Augustus a sphinx, which he changed for the head of Alexander the Great, which continued till Nero ; the following emperors used various symbols. Private individuals used indifferently all sorts of devices During the Empire leaden seals were used for private purposes, and after the age of Constantine, flat circular metallic seals called bullm, made of gold, silver, and lead, attached by silken or woollen bands to the documents, came into use.