Canaanite and Aramaic seal inscriptions are short texts engraved on personalseals andbullae used in theancient Near East during thefirst millennium BCE. Written primarily inPhoenician,Hebrew andAramaic, the inscriptions typically record personal names,patronymics, titles, or brief formulas. They are an important source for the study of widerCanaanite and Aramaic inscriptions,palaeography andonomastics.

Seals in the region were initially associated with protective or symbolic functions, and later became administrative tools used to authenticate documents and property. Most arestamp seals, often ofscaraboid form, and many are decorated with figural or symbolic motifs in addition to inscriptions.

Most such stamp seals date approximately from the 9th to the 5th centuries BCE.^[1]

The inscriptions are usually brief, most commonly giving the name and patronymic of the seal owner. In some cases, titles, the name of a superior, or a blessing formula are included. The seals also theophoric naming practices, including divine elements such as-yahu and-baʿal, and contribute to the study of ancient Near Eastern glyptic art.^[1]

The scholarly study of Semitic seal inscriptions began in the late nineteenth century, with pioneering publications by scholars such asCharles Clermont-Ganneau,Eugène-Melchior de Vogüé, andMoritz Abraham Levy. Early corpora relied heavily on museum collections and the antiquities market, often without secure archaeological provenance.^[1]

Forgery is a significant concern in assessing the corpus, as there has been significant demand among collectors, and the items are small and forgery is difficult to detect. Questions of authenticity have played a significant role in the study of seal inscriptions.^[2] From the nineteenth century onward, scholars debated whether certain seals represented genuine ancient objects or modern forgeries, especially when seals combined iconographic elements from different cultural traditions.^[3]

The numbers of known seals allocated by "nationality" is significantly different from the wider corpus of knownCanaanite and Aramaic inscriptions; Hebrew forms a large majority of the seals and bullae, whereas for wider inscriptions, Hebrew is a small minority and Phoenician and Aramaic are the majority.^[4]

Writing in 2014, Philippe Bordreuil suggested that we can be certain only of the 164 seal inscriptions which were known prior to the publication of notable monumental descriptions that could be easily copied, as well as those found subsequently in controlled archaeological excavations:^[5]

• 44 Hebrew
• 6 Phoenician
• 57 Aramaic
• 34 Ammonite
• 17 Moabite
• 6 Edomite

The table below lists all the inscribed seals published before 1850, ordered by the date they were found.^[6]

Language	Image	Inscription	WSS No.	Century BCE	Material	Known Since	Published
Phoenician (disputed)		lʾbybʿl	1122	8th	Sardonyx scaraboid	1726	Gori, 1726[7]
Phoenician		lʾḥtmlk ʾšt yšʿ	1102	8th	Agate scaraboid	1791
Phoenician		bnʾw/r	728	6th	White stone scaraboid (unknown location)	1791	Tassie and Raspe 1791[8]
Aramaic		lhwdw sprʾ	754	7th	Green jasper scarab	1791	Tassie and Raspe 1791[9] CIS II 84
Hebrew		lbnyhw bn šḥr	108	7th (?)	Onyx scaraboid	1812	Clarke 1813[10]
Moabite		lkmšṣdq	1036	8th	Porphyry scarab	1826
Aramaic		lmrʾ hd	809	7th	Carnelian scarab	1828	Hamaker, 1828
Hebrew		lnʾhbt bt dmlyhw	39	7th	Burnt carnelian scaraboid	1837
Aramaic		lsrgd	–	Late 9th	Quartz cylinder seal	1837	Gesenius 1837[11]
Aramaic		lnbrb	817	Mid 7th	Agate scaraboid	1837
Aramaic		lʿzy	1116	Late 8th / early 7th	Agate scaraboid (missing)	1837	Lajard 1837,[12] CIS II 90
Phoenician		lbʿlytn ʾšʾl mʾš lmlqrt bṣr	719	5th–4th	Chalcedony scaraboid	1843
Hebrew		lʿbdyhw bn yšb	290	Late 8th / early 7th	Jasper scaraboid	1846
Aramaic		lpltḥdn	–	8th	Carnelian cylinder seal	1847	Lajard 1847[13]
Aramaic		lmmh	–	8th	Unknown scaraboid (missing)	1847–49	Lajard 1847–49[14]
Aramaic		ḥnky	795	Early 6th	Chalcedony octagonal conoid	1849	Lajard 1847–49[15]
Hebrew		lntnyhw bn ʿbdyhw	279	Early 7th	Chalcedony conoid	1849
Ammonite		ltmkʾl bdmlkm	853	6th	Octagonal conoid	1849

The Corpus of West Semitic Stamp Seals (WSS) states that, at the time of its publication in 1997, approximately 1,591 West Semitic inscribed seals, sealings, and related stamped objects were known when cylinder seals are included, or about 1,511 when they are excluded. Within this larger body, the WSS defines a principal working corpus of 1,189 stamp seals used for detailed study. Of these, 180 are recorded as having secure archaeological provenance, or 85-88 securely provenanced seals excluding a small number of unrepresentative large hoards.^[16]

The WSS explains that “nationality” is the primary principle used to classify seals, determined by a combination of script, language, names, and iconography, though palaeography "outweigh[ed] all others". Some have been revised and reclassified, or remain uncertain. The authors emphasise that the classification remains provisional: "we are still far from achieving a definitive classification".^[17] According to Avigad and Sass: "There is a great similarity among the scripts and the onomasticon of the various West Semitic peoples, making it difficult to distinguish between the different groups of seals."^[1]

The core WSS corpus is as follows:

The 88 core provenanced seals and bullae (excluding handles), excluding LMLK seals, the Avigad hoard and the City of David hoard is:

• KI 2: two possible Moabite^[18][19]
• KI 4k:Shema seal,Tel Megiddo, 1904
• Eliakim, son of Hilkiah bulla, unprovenanced, 1974
• Gedaliah, son of Pashhur bullae, Jerusalem, 2005-08
• Governor of Jerusalem Seal docket, Jerusalem, 2019
• Hilkiah seal
• Jaazaniah seal,Tell en-Nasbeh, 1926-35
• Yehukal son of Shelemyahu seal (found 2005)
• King Ahaz's seal, unprovenanced
• King Hezekiah bulla, Jerusalem, 2009-10
• Kosher Bread Stamp,Horbat 'Uza, 2012
• Shelomit seal, Jerusalem, 2008
• Yeho'ezer ben Hosh'ayahu seal, Jerusalem, 2024
• LMLK seal
• Adadnadinakhe bricks

• Ancient Near Eastern seals and sealing practices

• Avigad, Nahman; Sass, Benjamin (1997).Corpus of West Semitic Stamp Seals. Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities / Israel Exploration Society.
• Hackett, Jo Ann; Aufrecht, Walter E. (2014-06-06).An Eye for Form": Epigraphic Essays in Honor of Frank Moore Cross. Penn State Press.ISBN 978-1-57506-887-9.
• Levy, Moritz Abraham (1869).Siegel und Gemmen mit aramäischen, phönizischen, althebräischen, himjarischen, nabathäischen und altsyrischen Inschriften (in German). Schletter.
• Vogüé, Melchior de (1868). "Intailles à légendes sémitiques".Mélanges d'archéologie orientale (in French). Impr. impériale. p. 105-140. Retrieved2026-02-07.
• Clermont-Ganneau, Charles Simon (1883)."Sceaux et cachets israélites, phéniciens et syriens".Journal Asiatique. 8 (in French).1:123–159,304–310.
• Diringer, David (1934).Le iscrizioni antico-ebraiche palestinesi (in Italian). Florence: F. Le Monnier.
• Bordreuil, Pierre (2014). "On the Authenticity of Iron Age Northwest Semitic Inscribed Seals". In Hackett, Jo Ann; Aufrecht, Walter E. (eds.).An Eye for Form: Epigraphic Essays in Honor of Frank Moore Cross. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns. pp. 127–140.
• Schmitz, Philip C. (2014). "Phoenician Seal Script". In Hackett, Jo Ann; Aufrecht, Walter E. (eds.).An Eye for Form: Epigraphic Essays in Honor of Frank Moore Cross. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns. pp. 141–174.
• Herr, Larry G. (2014). "Aramaic and Ammonite Seal Scripts". In Hackett, Jo Ann; Aufrecht, Walter E. (eds.).An Eye for Form: Epigraphic Essays in Honor of Frank Moore Cross. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns. pp. 175–186.
• Herr, Larry G. (2014). "Hebrew, Moabite, and Edomite Seal Scripts". In Hackett, Jo Ann; Aufrecht, Walter E. (eds.).An Eye for Form: Epigraphic Essays in Honor of Frank Moore Cross. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns. pp. 187–201.
• Lidzbarski, Mark (1902). "Über einige Siegel mit semitischen Inschriften".Ephemeris für semitische Epigraphik. Vol. 1. De Gruyter. p. 136-142.doi:10.1515/9783111588438-019.ISBN 978-3-11-158843-8.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
• Lidzbarski, Mark (1902). "Semitische Legenden auf Siegeln und Gewichten".Ephemeris für semitische Epigraphik. Vol. 1. De Gruyter. p. 271-280.doi:10.1515/9783111588438-019.ISBN 978-3-11-158843-8.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
• Lidzbarski, Mark (1907). "Hebräische Inschrifte".Ephemeris für semitische Epigraphik. Vol. 2. De Gruyter. p. 70-72.doi:10.1515/9783111588438-019.ISBN 978-3-11-158843-8.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
• Lidzbarski, Mark (1907). "Über einige Siegel und Gewichte mit semitischen Legenden".Ephemeris für semitische Epigraphik. Vol. 2. De Gruyter. p. 142-149.doi:10.1515/9783111588438-019.ISBN 978-3-11-158843-8.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)

• Canaanite and Aramaic seal inscriptions
• Phoenician inscriptions

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