28
www.irs-az.com
T
hey are of great historical val-
ue for the study of issues such
as property differentiation,
class society and the state, and eco-
nomic, trade and cultural relations
between ancient societies. These
ancient monuments are studied by
a special historical subject - sphrag-
istics (from the Greek word Σφραγίς
- stamp). Along with this, stamps rep-
resent a work of art. Ancient stamps
were made from colored stones (ag-
ate, chalcedony, crystal, garnet, etc.),
metal (gold, silver, bronze), glass, ce-
ramics, etc. They had various forms
characteristic of certain periods and
regions. Images depicting various
scenes are carved on the working
surfaces of these objects, sometimes
with the highest skill. Separate cop-
ies of stamps made of hard materials
and decorated with artistic carvings
on miniature surfaces are considered
with good reason to be masterpieces
of world art. They are all regarded
as monuments of glyptics (from the
Greek word γλνπtός - sculptured, cut)
- the art of carving on solid materials,
often on miniature decorative, semi-
precious and precious stones. Monu-
ments of glyptics are divided into
two groups - intaglios and cameos.
Intaglios carry engraved and cameos
– convex images. Often, all carved
stones are called by one term - gems.
Only intaglios were used as stamps,
and they depicted mirror images or
texts. Cameos served only as adorn-
ments.
Religious images were usually
carved on stamps: gods, goddesses,
altars, and symbolized images of ani-
mals and plants. In ancient times,
stamps carried out three main
functions, serving as jewelry and
amulets in addition to their pri-
mary purpose. For this reason, they
can be used to study a wide range
of historical issues. Ancient stamps
were used more in the fourth mil-
lennium BC in Mesopotamia and
The ancient
stamp
of Azerbaijan
Ilyas BABAYEV
Doctor of History,
Corresponding member of the ANAS
DURING ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS, AND SOMETIMES
RANDOM DIGGING WORK, ANCIENT STAMPS ARE DISCOVERED
AMONG OTHER FINDS.
Clay bulla imprints of stamps on clay blocks,
3rd-2nd millennia BC
Clay bulla imprints of stamps on clay
blocks, 3rd-2nd millennia BC
Clay stamps, late
4th - first half of 3rd
millennia BC
Focusing on Azerbaijan
www.irs-az.com
29
Egypt, when property differentiation
was under way and the first states
emerged here. In other countries, so-
cioeconomic conditions for the use
of stamps emerged later.
In ancient times, stamps were
very widely used. Anyone who
owned property had their own
stamp. Stamps were used to en-
dorse documents and seal the doors
of warehouses, homes, and various
goods and products. They were used
to put imprints on a soft surface (clay,
wax, etc.) like we seal doors, packets
and parcels now. During excavations,
such imprints are sometimes found
in lumps of clay with traces of scrolls,
rope, textiles, baskets, etc. Such finds
are called bullas. Imprints of stamps
are found in clay jars applied before
firing. Usually, these are stamps of
masters and manufacturers, in some
cases - owners or customers of the
product.
In Azerbaijan, the largest num-
ber of stamps and one bulla with
12 different imprints of stamps
were found during archaeological
excavations in 1946-1953 in Min-
gachevir.
1
They cover the period
from the 6
th
century BC to the 7
th
century AD and are represented by
local and imported stamps. About
100 bullas of the third century and
the first half of the first century BC
have been found in Gabala. This is a
period when stamps were extensive-
ly used, which indicates that the fall
of primitive society had ended, class
society and the state had emerged
and cities had taken shape. During
this period, trade relations with other
nations evolved and expanded.
At this time, trade acquired a
global character and involved all
the known countries of the then
world, including the Southeastern
Caucasus, where the Albanian state
formed at the end of the fourth cen-
tury BC with its capital in the city of
Gabala until the middle of the fifth
century BC.
Through the territory of Albania
1 I. Babayev. Some questions of the study of monuments of glyptics in Azerbaijan. Reports of the Academy of Sciences
of the Azerbaijan SSR. Baku, 1964, № 6, p. 77-79; G. Aslanov, I. Babayev. General characteristics of the monuments
of glyptics found during excavations in Mingachevir. Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences of the Azerbaijan SSR,
the series of social sciences. Baku, 1965, p. 94-101; I. Babayev, On three multidimensional glass stamps found in
Mingachevir - Archaeological studies in Azerbaijan. Baku, 1965, p. 123-133; his own. Monuments of Azerbaijani glyptics
of antiquity and the early Middle Ages (essays on the history of glyptics in ancient Azerbaijan). Author’s abstract of the
candidate’s thesis. Baku, 1965, etc.
Imprints of gem stamps, 1st cetury BC - 2nd century AD
30
www.irs-az.com
passed separate brisk branches of
the Great Silk Road, which existed
from the end of the second century
BC to the 16
th
century AD.
Along with written records, Al-
bania’s (Caucasian Albania’s) broad
trade relations are also proved by nu-
merous archaeological finds, includ-
ing ancient imported stamps.
However, in Azerbaijan, stamps
were also found during excavations
of earlier monuments. The oldest of
them belong to the era of the late
Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age
– the 4
th
-3
rd
millennia BC. Thus, two
clay stamps were found during ex-
cavations of the Chalcolithic settle-
ment of Boyuk Kasik in Agstafa Dis-
trict. They are hemispherical in shape
with an incised image of a goat on
the flat working surface.
2
The use of stamps at such an
early period in the South Caucasus is
of great interest. Now, in light of the
latest archaeological research, it has
been established with a high degree
of probability that in the Ubeyd and
Uruk periods (4
th
-3
rd
millennia BC),
some tribes migrated from Meso-
potamia to the Caucasus. This view,
first expressed by the Azerbaijani
archaeologist Ideal Narimanov on
the basis of excavations of the Ley-
latapa monument in Agdam District
in 1984,
3
was later supported by new
archaeological data.
4
Researchers
link this migration mainly to the ex-
pansion of metal production and the
search for sources of copper ore.
Thus, the earliest stamps iden-
tified on the territory of Azerbai-
jan are likely to have belonged
to migrants from Mesopotamia,
which was developed from a so-
cioeconomic point of view.
During archaeological excava-
tions, and sometimes random dig-
ging work, metal, stone and ink cy-
lindrical stamps imported from the
Middle East were found in the ter-
ritory of northern Azerbaijan. They
belong to the Middle Bronze Age
and mostly, to the late Bronze and
early Iron Age, i.e. the first few cen-
turies of the first millennium BC.
5
These stamps are provided with a
longitudinal hole for wearing on a
cord. Imprints of these stamps were
produced by rolling. At that time,
property differentiation was already
noticeable in Azerbaijan. Most of
the abovementioned stamps were
found in rich burials probably be-
longing to tribal chiefs, who could
use the stamps as items of decora-
tion. However, it is possible that so-
cioeconomic conditions had formed
by that time under which individual
members of society could use these
stamps for their intended purpose.
Starting from the 7
th
century BC,
stamps were very widely used in
northern Azerbaijan. At this time,
the disintegration of primitive so-
ciety had already ended here and
all conditions were right for the
emergence of class society and
the state, while trade and cultural
relations with other regions expand-
ed. In the 7
th
-6
th
centuries BC, stamps
were brought to Azerbaijan mainly
from Assyria, Iran and other coun-
tries of the east.
6
Stamps of this period discovered
in Mingachevir cover mainly the pe-
riod from the 6
th
century BC to the
7
th
century AD. Some of them, be-
longing to the 6
th
-4
th
centuries BC,
are represented mainly by bronze
stamp-rings made by casting. On the
oval flat surface of the rings, images
of different animals, and in some
cases, a man and various fantastic
2 Najaf Museyibli. The Chalcolithic settlement of Boyuk Kasik. Baku, 2007, p. 124-125
3 I. Narimanov. Ubeyd tribes of Mesopotamia in Azerbaijan. All-Soviet archaeological conference «Achievements of Soviet
archeology in the 11th five-year period». Abstracts of reports. Baku, 1985, p. 271-272.
4 R. M. Munchayev. Uruk Culture (Mesopotamia) and the Caucasus - The latest archaeological and ethnographic re-
search in the Caucasus. Proceedings of the international scientific conference. Makhachkala, 2007, p. 8-9; N. A. Musey-
ibli, Leylatapa culture of the late Chalcolithic and its influence on the early bronze culture of Azerbaijan. Ibid, p. 65-67.
5 G. F. Jafarov. Azerbaijan’s relations with countries of the Near East in the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age (based on
archaeological materials of Azerbaijan). Baku, 1984, p. 34-40.
6 Babayev, Some questions ... p. 78.
Ring with a gem, 1st-2nd centuries AD
Ring with carved stone,
3rd century AD
Bronze ring stamp,
5-4th centuries BC
Color stone stamp,
4-5th centuries AD
Focusing on Azerbaijan
www.irs-az.com
31
creatures are engraved. Similar im-
ages are found on so-called Greco-
Persian gems. Judging by the images
on the rings, they were made under
the cultural influence of Iran. Many
of these products are made by lo-
cal craftsmen, but imported stamps
were used as well.
Gems with ancient stories are
often found in Azerbaijan. Many of
them are made from semiprecious
stones and inserted into metal rings.
A large number of bullas are found
in the Hellenistic layers of the ancient
city of Gabala - the capital of Cauca-
sian Albania. These valuable finds in-
dicate the extensive use of stamps in
Caucasian Albania in the Hellenistic
period. Some imprints were made
on highly artistic gems with typi-
cal stories and were imported from
the Hellenistic world. Such expen-
sive stamp-gems could belong to
noblemen, representatives of the lo-
cal nobility and wealthy merchants.
Imprint-gems - stamps depicting
Heracles resting there - are found
on several bullas. These gems also
depict gods and goddesses of the
ancient pantheon and symbolic im-
ages of plants and animals. On the
imprints of local stamps, we see im-
ages of people, animals and birds.
Stamps and imprints on the bul-
las, like other imported products,
especially numerous silver coins and
ornaments testify to Caucasian Al-
bania’s close contacts not only
with neighboring, but with all the
countries of the Hellenic world –
the Seleucid, Parthian, Greco-Bac-
trian kingdoms, Egypt and other
countries on the Mediterranean
basin. After the Roman campaign
led by Lucullus and Pompey in 69-65
BC, Albania came under the influ-
ence of Rome. From that time, Alba-
nia received Roman goods of the re-
publican and imperial periods, items
of toreutics, coins, jewelry, gems, etc.
The Roman gems are mainly small,
flat or flat-convex carved stones and
glass items embedded on the top of
bronze, silver and iron ring frames.
Most of them depict gods and god-
desses of the ancient pantheon -
God of the Sun Helios with a radiate
wreath on his head, God of War Ares-
Mars with a helmet on his head and a
spear and a shield in his hands, God-
desses of Beauty and Love Aphrodite
and Venus, God of Love Eros, and
Goddess of Fortune Tyche-Fortuna
with a cornucopia. There is also an
image of a handshake - a symbol of
concord on a wedding ring, poppy
and ears - symbols of abundance, an
alter with a flame, etc.
Among the finds in Azerbaijan,
there is a gem which depicts the
head of Alexander of Macedon with
the horns of Egyptian God Amun.
Such images were common in the
Hellenistic period, are found on coins
such as those of the King of Thrace
Lysimachus (306-281 BC). The Roman
author, Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus,
recorded that Octavian Augustus
used a stamp with an image of Alex-
ander of Macedon for some time and
a stamp with his own image.
7
On antique gems, gods are usu-
ally depicted in statutory positions.
This indicates that they depicted an-
tique statues standing in well-known
sanctuaries.
In the 3
rd
-7
th
centuries, stamps
of Caucasian Albania, both in shape
and by the plots, resemble stamps
of Sassanid Iran under the influence
of which the country was. Stamps of
this period are represented by local
and imported ones and are made of
colored stones, glass and metal. They
depict people, cult stories, fantastic
creatures, animals, birds, altars with
flames, scorpions, plants, various
signs and monograms. In general,
stories on Sassanid stamps do not
stand out for their diversity, which
was noted by the major expert on
these products, V. G. Lukonin.
8
Most
of these stories are associated
with the religion of Zoroastrian-
ism, and researchers rightfully re-
gard them as true illustrations to
Avesta - the holy book of Zoroas-
trians.
9
Some of these stamps were
made locally, as evidenced by the
semi-manufactured articles discov-
ered during excavations.
With the spread of Islam, stamps
with such plots were no longer used,
giving way to stamps with Arabic
script, the name of the owner, and
religious expressions.
7 Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus. Biography of the twelve Caesars. Divine Augustus. Ch. 50. Moscow, 1964, p. 55.
8 A. Y. Borisov, V. G. Lukonin, Sassanid gems. Leningrad, 1963, p. 31.
9 Ibid, p. 34-45.
Imprints of bronze ring imprints,
5-4th centuries BC
Dostları ilə paylaş: |