Seals and Sealing

The Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem is proud to inaugurate its series of scholarly publications with the proceedings of the symposium "Seals and Sealing in the Ancient World," which took place at the Museum on Thursday, September 2, 1993. This symposium was held in conjunction with the opening of the Gallery of Symbolic Communication, which exhibits the history and development of seals, the technologies of seal-making and the varied roles that seals have played through the millennia. The seal itself was an important element in the ancient society of the Near East, and study of its multifaceted significance is richly rewarding. The seal expresses the relationships between persons, the economic hierarchy and legal identity, as well as rendering visible the mythopoeic interpretation of the universe - the relationship between the divine and human worlds. Continued study of seals is essential, for the more we learn about them, the more knowledge we amass about ancient Near Easterm society and thought. We hope that these articles will further that endeavour.