1986.563: Scaraboid Stamp Seal: Horseman Attacking Foot-soldier with Spear

Identification and Creation

Object Number

1986.563

Title

Scaraboid Stamp Seal: Horseman Attacking Foot-soldier with Spear

Classification

Seals

Work Type

seal

Date

450-300 BCE

Period

Classical period

Culture

Achaemenid

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/289089

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Veined gray chalcedony

Technique

Intaglio

Dimensions

1.8 x 2.1 x 0.8 cm (11/16 x 13/16 x 5/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

Damon Mezzacappa, gift; to the Harvard Art Museum, 1986.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Damon Mezzacappa

Accession Year

1986

Object Number

1986.563

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Description

This chalcedony scaraboid stamp seal features an image of a mounted warrior attacking a foot soldier. The horse has a lumpy body, wispy legs, and a large head. There is no groundline in the scene, and it is difficult to say whether the horse is leaping or galloping. The rider wears baggy trousers and a pointed cap. In his upraised hand he holds a spear. The foot soldier stands in front of the horse with his front leg bent as if running or leaping. He holds a round shield in one hand, and a spear in the other.

The rider’s pointed cap indicates that he is an Achaemenid Persian cavalryman; the round shield carried by the foot soldier is that of a Greek hoplite soldier. A similar scene occurs among the bullae excavated at Daskyleion, near modern Badirma in northwestern Turkey (1). It also appears on other stamp seals, notably one recovered from a tomb in Bolsena, Italy (2). Another stamp seal, said to be from Ephesus in Asia Minor, has similar imagery, with the addition of a corpse beneath the rider (3). These seals were most likely made in the Achaemenid Persian Empire, where there was a tradition of representing combat between Persians and non-Persians in private art, in a variety of media (4).

NOTES

1. D. Kaptan, The Daskyleion Bullae: Seal Images from the Western Achaemenid Empire (Leiden, 2002) no. 86.

2. J. Boardman, Greek Gems and Finger Rings: Early Bronze Age to Late Classical (London, 1970) no. 881.

3. Boardman, Greek Gems, no. 974.

4. X. Wu, “‘Oh Young Man…Make Known What Kind You Are:’ Warfare, History, and Elite Ideology of the Achaemenid Persian Empire,” Iranica Antiqua 49 (2014) 209-99.

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