Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/370

 ,40 A History of Art in Sardinia and J un. fa. Fir,. 224. — Seal of Obadiâhû. Actual shape of stone. (1 Kings xviii. ; Fig. 225.— Seal of Obadiâhû, en- graved side. engraved upon them are of frequent occurrence ; for instance, " Of Obadiâhû, servant of the king" (Figs. 224 and 225). ' It is to be regretted that the same Oba- diâhû neglected to tell us the name of the prince under whom he served. We might then, perhaps, have identified him with Achab's overseer, who played no small part in the traditions relating to Elijah However that may be, the seal of that official must have closely resembled ours, for the inscription arranged in two lines is archaic enough to be carried back to that remote epoch. 2 Seals as a rule are not as plain as that of Obadiâhû, but exhibit ornament and figures side by side with the name and quality of the owner. Such would be the two annexed woodcuts from Jeru- salem (Figs. 226 and 227), one consisting of a very hard siliceous stone convex and oval in shape, with a Phcenician pal- mette engraved with rare per- fection above the legend : "Of Hananiâhû, son of Akbor," whilst on the next stone a ring of poppies or pome- granates surrounds the lettering, "Of Hânâniâhû, son of Azariâhû." 3 Nevertheless they did not always keep to subjects, which from their essentially ornamental character could in no wise give umbrage to the most rigid rigorist. Here, for example, is an oval seal, held by Longperier to be of Jewish origin. 4 On the obverse stands a male figure, staff in hand, in an attitude of worship. His dress, which falls on the ankles leaving the upper part of the body Fig. 226. — Seal of Hananiâhû. Fig. 227.— Seal of Hananiâhû. 1 Figures and observations are borrowed from M. Clermont-Ganneau, " Le Sceau d'Obadyahou, fonctionnaire royal Israélite" {Recueil d' Archélogie Orientale, fasc. 1, 1885, Ernest Lerout, pp. 33-38). 2 This is applicable to the hematite seal picked up by Sir C. Warren at the south-east angle of the haram, at a depth of eight metres. The inscription is in two lines, and reads as follows : " Haggai, son of Shebaniah " {The Recovery, pp. 123, 128 and 493, where it is reproduced). 3 Clermont-Ganneau, Sceaux et cachets Israélites, Syriens et Phéniciens, 1882, 8° extrait from Journal Asiatique, No. 1. Ibid., No. 2. 1 De Longperier, Œuvres, tom. i. pp. 198, 199.