Imagery & Symbolism

Making their Mark: A Concise Guide to Western Asiatic Stamp Seals

Differing from most of the delicate and sophisticatedly engraved stamps seals made of precious stones, the earliest ancient Near Eastern stamping devices were relatively large ceramic objects with a stem handle and with geometric patterns engraved on the bases. They have been extensively found in village settlements of the Neolithic period in Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Levant [...]

Mesopotamian Cylinder Seals—Exploring Glyptic Images

In the ancient Near East, cylinder seals were used over a wide geographical landscape, that extended from Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) to the valley of the Indus River. There were various ancient Near Eastern cultures, that once flourished in the ancient Near Eastern landscape, that developed distinctive imagery representations and iconic glyptic styles expressing different mythological [...]

Egyptian Amulets and their Meanings

Amulets in Ancient Egypt were both decorative and practical, as they were considered as having apotropaic powers to protect or bestow power upon the wearer. Not only worn by the living, amulets have been found inside the wrappings of mummies, as they were used to prepare the deceased for the afterlife. Amulets held different meanings, [...]

Animal Symbolism in Roman Art

Animal motifs appear in Roman art because of the important associations and meanings those animals carried. For some animals, such as lions and eagles, the connotations are fairly transparent, either because we still share them today or because such associations were so famous and widespread that they have not been forgotten; others, however, are far [...]

Engraved Gemstones in Ancient Rome

Mesopotamian Traditions and Roman Craftmanship Intaglios – carved gemstones – usually mounted in rings, were a popular style of Roman jewellery for their aesthetic and practical uses. The technique was established well before the Roman period, most likely in Ancient Mesopotamia. Drill cutting techniques established by the Greeks, allowed the Romans to create intricate intaglio [...]

The Symbolism of the Spiral in Celtic Imagery

Early Spirals Spiral patterns, although associated now with the Celtic people, have in one form or another, been used in the art of many cultures worldwide. Appearing on rock art in Britain and Ireland as far back as the Neolithic period, spirals appear to have held important, though now forgotten, meaning with some of the [...]

Egyptian Amulets and their Meanings: Ancient Egyptian Gods

Amulets in Ancient Egypt were both decorative and practical, as they were considered as having apotropaic powers to protect or bestow power upon the wearer. Not only worn by the living, amulets have been found inside the wrappings of mummies, as they were used to prepare the deceased for the afterlife. Amulets held different meanings, [...]

Hieroglyphs: An Introduction to the Ancient Egyptian Writing System

A Brief History of Hieroglyphs We owe the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs to the French scholar and founding figure of Egyptology, Jean-François Champollion, and his decoding of the Rosetta stone, in the 1820s. Featuring both hieroglyphs and demotic (as well as Greek), the stone depicts two stages in Egypt’s written and spoken history. The Ancient [...]

The History and Mythology of Gemstones in Ancient Jewellery

Jewellery in Ancient Egypt Jewellery has been worn by ancient cultures around the world for thousands of years. In ancient Egypt both men and women were great lovers of jewellery and adorned themselves with a profusion of charms and amulets. Jewellery also showed wealth and status and offered protection from evil. Although the Egyptians had [...]

Apotropaic Art: Amulets and Phallic Pendants in Ancient Cultures

Across the ancient world, we find a number of pieces that would have been worn by their owners for the sake of protection – primarily amulets. Jewellery of this apotropaic nature most often takes shape in the form of pendants, and we find them in abundance from a number of civilisations, especially Egypt and Ancient [...]