First Impressions: Cylinder Seals in the Ancient Near East

Back by popular demand, this is the newly revised edition of the definitive classic survey on cylinder seals in the Ancient Near East. The most comprehensive book on the subject to date, this essential text features an incredible 1000 highly-detailed illustrations, all highlighting the intricate nature and fascinating purpose of these remarkable tools of the past. The author looks at their use over 3,000 years and discusses the information they provide on religion, design and all aspects of daily life for the period in which they were created, from about 3300 to 300 BC.

Arts & Photography

Collon, Dominique

History & Criticism

Univ of Chicago Pr

In the most comprehensive study published of Near Eastern seals, their images, and their role in ancient society, Dominique Collon traces the history and development of their designs and styles from 3300 to 300 BCE. With over one thousand illustrations, "First Impressions" demonstrates that despite their diminutive size, the seals provide a rich source of information on economics, trade patterns, professions, and religious and personal affiliations.

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

University of Chicago Press

A rich source of pictorial information about the Ancient Near East comes to us in the form of miniature reliefs, created from the impressions made in clay by tiny engraved stone seals. Originally used for sealing goods and writing tablets, these seals now provide important evidence for administrative practices, technical development, and long-distance trade. The designs themselves record religious beliefs, mythical characters, architectural styles, musical instruments, festivals, sport, warfare, transportation, and fashions in dress. In this first comprehensive introduction to pre-Islamic Near Eastern seals, Dominique Collon discusses cylinder seals—a form unique to the Ancient Near East—as well as stamp seals, the earliest dating from the fifth millennium B.C. As a reflection of how their owners saw the world around them, Near Eastern seals are an essential tool for archaeologists in interpreting the past.

Near Eastern Seals (Interpreting the Past)

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Antiques & Collectibles

University of California Press

Based on the unrivaled collections of the British Museum, this extensively illustrated book is a superb introduction to the art of the ancient Near East from the eighth millennium B.C. to Alexander the Great. Often described as the cradle of civilization, the ancient Near East was the birthplace of writing, monumental sculpture, and wheel-made pottery. Dominique Collon provides a unique view into this ancient world, from village settlements to grand palaces to burial sites. Collon situates the Museum's most beautiful and interesting artifacts against their historical and cultural background. Among the works featured are painted pottery, figurines, cylinder seals, and stone amulets from the earliest village cultures before 3000 B.C. Also here are magnificent finds from graves at Alaca Huyuk in Turkey and the Royal Cemetery at Ur, including jewelry, musical instruments, and the famous Royal Standard. Sculpted reliefs from Assyrian palaces and Sasanian metalwork round out the collection. In her final chapter, Collon shows how art from the ancient Near East resonates in our own world today. A welcome addition is a Mesopotamian chronology summarizing recent astronomical and textual data, compiled by C.B.F. Walker especially for this book.

Ancient Near Eastern Art

Where the Egyptians have wall paintings, the ancient Near East has cylinder seals as the main source of illustrative material, covering a range of subject matter and periods not covered by relief sculptures. The seals are particularly attractive, and the inscriptions are rare examples of personal prayer from the ancient world. This volume continues the story of the cylinder seal styles of the second millennium BC beyond Babylonia in this internationally recognized series documenting the British Museum’s cylinder seals collection. The Isin/Larsa and Old Babylonian Periods of the early 2nd millennium BC merited a whole volume (Volume III), as did the succeeding Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian periods of the 1st millennium BC (Volume V) and the Pre-Achaemenid and Achaemenid periods of the 1st millennia BC-AD in Iran (Volume VI). However, between 2000 and 1000 BC whole series of regional glyptic styles were developed in various autonomous kingdoms and city states. Each of these has merited its own chapter or section within this current volume, with its own selection of photographs and catalogue entries. As the seals featured in this volume came from a number of different sites, they reflect a greater variety of styles than is the case with the single-period or single-origin groups of seals treated in the previous catalogues. There was also a greater exchange of seal-cutting expertise between the various kingdoms, and it is possible to make tentative suggestions as to seals possibly cut by the same craftsman.

Catalogue of the Western Asiatic Seals in the British Museum: The Second Millennium BC. Beyond Babylon (Cylinder Seals)

History

Porada, Edith

Ancient Civilizations

BRITISH MUSEUM

Based on the unrivaled collections of the British Museum, this extensively illustrated book is a superb introduction to the art of the ancient Near East from the eighth millennium B.C. to Alexander the Great. Often described as the cradle of civilization, the ancient Near East was the birthplace of writing, monumental sculpture, and wheel-made pottery. Dominique Collon provides a unique view into this ancient world, from village settlements to grand palaces to burial sites.Collon situates the Museum's most beautiful and interesting artifacts against their historical and cultural background. Among the works featured are painted pottery, figurines, cylinder seals, and stone amulets from the earliest village cultures before 3000 B.C. Also here are magnificent finds from graves at Alaca Huyuk in Turkey and the Royal Cemetery at Ur, including jewelry, musical instruments, and the famous Royal Standard. Sculpted reliefs from Assyrian palaces and Sasanian metalwork round out the collection. In her final chapter, Collon shows how art from the ancient Near East resonates in our own world today.A welcome addition is a Mesopotamian chronology summarizing recent astronomical and textual data, compiled by C.B.F. Walker especially for this book.

ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN ART

The Ancient Near East has a fascinating and unique source of pictorial information in the form of miniature reliefs produced by the impressions of cylinder seals. This is the most comprehensive introductory survey of cylinder seals yet published. The small cylinders, generally of stone and engraved with a design, were made from about 3300 to 300 BC and were rolled out on lumps of clay used for sealing goods and writing tablets, leaving an impression in relief. The designs on them are intricate and varied and are a major source of information for the art historian, the student of theology and the Biblical scholar. They are also a dating tool for the archaeologist and a source of aesthetic pleasure for collectors and all who study them. The author considers the history of their use and the evidence they provide for trade, technology, religion, architecture, farming, warfare and other central themes in the history of the Near East.

Archaeology

British Museum Press

Seals can be marks of prestige and protection for their owners, and the subjects they depict provide information for art historians and genealogists alike. Analysis of the stone used can also provide clues to trade routes in operation at particular periods. This book brings together the contributions of twelve distinguished speakers at an international seminar held at the British Museum in 1992; the result is a comprehensive study of seals and sealing practices around the world.

7000 Years of Seals

The fifth volume in this series of Syrian, Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian and Urartian seals held by the British Museum. In this volume more than 400 seals from the first half of the first millennium BC are catalogued along with an analysis and discussion of the materials.

Catalogue of Western Asiatic Seals in the British Museum: Cylinder Seals V (Catalogue of the Western Asiatic Seals in the British Museum)

A concise and beautifully designed book exploring the symbolism behind an exquisite Ancient Babylonian plaque found in southern Iraq. This spectacular terracotta plaque was the principal acquisition for the British Museum's 250th anniversary, and in 2004 was exhibited in various museums around the UK. Made between 1800 and 1859 BC, it is made from baked straw-tempered clay and modelled in high relief. It probably stood in a shrine and could represent the demoness Lilitu, known in the Bible as Lilith, or a Mesopotamian goddess. The figure wears the horned headdress characteristic of a Mesopotamian deity, and holds a rod and ring of justice, symbols of her divinity. Her long multi-coloured wings hang downwards, indicating that she is a goddess of the Underworld. The book explores the history and symbolism behind this beautiful and highly unusual relief.

The Queen of the Night (Objects in Focus)

Reference

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Collon, Dominique. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Collon, Dominique

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Collon, Dominique. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

First Impressions: Cylinder Seals in the Ancient Near East

First Impressions: Cylinder Seals in the Ancient Near East

Near Eastern Seals (Interpreting the Past)

Ancient Near Eastern Art

Catalogue of the Western Asiatic Seals in the British Museum: The Second Millennium BC. Beyond Babylon (Cylinder Seals)

ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN ART

First Impressions: Cylinder Seals in the Ancient Near East

7000 Years of Seals

Catalogue of Western Asiatic Seals in the British Museum: Cylinder Seals V (Catalogue of the Western Asiatic Seals in the British Museum)

The Queen of the Night (Objects in Focus)