first
stones used for ornamental purposes and for engraving, as a number of
specimens have been preserved from early Egyptian times. Because of the
cooling and calming effect exercised by carnelian upon the blood, if
worn on the neck or on the finger, it was believed to still all angry
passions.9
A
class of amulets even older than the Egyptian scarabs is represented by
the engraved Assyrio-Babylo-nian cylinders. There has been much
discussion among scholars as to the original purpose for which these
cylinders were made, some holding that they were exclusively employed
as seals or signets, while others incline to the belief that many of
them were intended only for use as amulets or talismans.
These
cylinders are perforated and were worn suspended from the neck or
wrist, as is most frequently the case with talismans, and the engraved
designs often represent religious or mythological subjects, the
accompanying inscription merely consisting of the names of the gods.
Cylinders of this type could not have been used as personal signets,
and it is quite possible that Dr. Wiedemann is right in supposing that
their imprint on a document was considered to impart a certain mystic
sanction to the agreement, and render the divinities or spirits
accountable for the fulfilment of the contract.10
The oldest known form of seal is the cylinder. Babylonian and Assyrian cylinder-seals are known of a date as early as 4000 b.c. From the earliest period until 2500 b.c. they were made of black or green serpentine, conglomerate, diorite, and frequently of the central core of
' Marbodei, " De lapidibus," Friburgi, 1531, f ol. 19.
10
Fischer and Wiedemann, " Ueber Babylonische ' Talismane' aus dem hist.
Mus. im steierisch-landschaftl. Joanneum zu Graz," Stuttgart, 1881, p.
9.
