About the middle of the Twelfth Dynasty a great change appears to have taken place in the political constitution of Egypt; we no longer hear of the Chieftains of Nomes or Provinces, and it seems that the Government, for a short time at least, became much more strictly centralized than it had ever been before. With this centralization of the administration several new offices were created, the provincial “Keepers of the (Royal) Seal” appear to have been suppressed, and adenus, “wakîls” or “deputies” of the Chief Keeper, appointed in their stead. The Treasury Department, however, was still presided over by a single^[57] “Keeper of the Royal Seal,” who henceforth was one of the most important and powerful personages in the realm;^[58] he became, in fact, the Chancellor of the Exchequer,^[59] an Lord Chancellor, Keeper of the Seal.

Unfortunately we have no long inscription recording this great official’s duties, as we have in the case of the Vezîr,^[60] so it is only by gathering a fact here and there from many sources that we can obtain any idea of his multifarious duties. That he had charge of the Government stores, and supervised everything connected with the bêt el mâl or Treasury, is certain;^[61] he had also to be responsible for the payment of all Government bills. If any important public monument had to be erected,^[62] or if any government business was to be undertaken, it was his duty, together with his staff of assistants, to make all necessary arrangements regarding the payment of the employés, which must have been a most onerous task, when we remember that the Egyptians possessed no coined money until after the time of Alexander the Great. The supervision of the taxation of the country appears also to have been placed in the Chancellor’s hands, and it was his custom, as it still is with the heads of the departments of the various services of the Khedive’s administration, to make an annual tour of inspection throughout the length and breadth of the country.^[63] In time of war a number of his officers accompanied the military expeditions, and when a town was plundered by the royal troops, they took possession of the spoil, some of which was kept for the Treasury, while the rest was given to the temples as an offering to the gods.^[64]

But not only did the Egyptian Chancellor have charge of everything connected with the Treasury, he seems also to have had a considerable share of the responsibility of appointing various State officials. We have already referred to the story of Joseph’s appointment to the Vezîrate, in which case the Seal or Signet of office was given by the king personally. With other officials, however, it seems to have been the custom for the Chancellor to deliver the Seal, and this ceremonial in a bureaucratic country such as Egypt then was, must have entailed a vast amount of time. Possessing the authority to appoint high officers, and also the means of controlling the State Treasury, it is no wonder that these old Chancellors attained to a great degree of power, and there seems reason to believe that more than one dynasty had its origin in a Chancellor’s family.

So many and various were the duties of the Keeper of the (Royal) Seal, that it is hardly matter for surprise if we find that he employed a large staff of assistants to help him. Among these the , “Deputy of the Keeper of the (Royal) Seal,”^[65] appears to have been the most important. When his chief was absent from the capital on one of the official tours of inspection through the country, this adenu or “deputy” was left in charge of the central office, and the duty naturally devolved upon him of looking after the permanent staff of the Treasury Department. This staff consisted of:—

(1) A “Chief Overseer of the Courtyard of the Keeper of the (Royal) Seal,”^[66] an official who was, I believe, deputed to personally supervise everything that went in or out of the Bêt el mal or Treasury. There was also

(2) A or “Overseer of the Courtyard of the Keeper of the (Royal) Seal.”^[67]

(3) A or “Overseer of the Courtyard of the Office of the Keeper of the (Royal) Seal.”^[68]

(4) Several “Assistants.”^[69]

(5) A “Chief Scribe,”^[70] and several

(6) “Scribes,”^[71] who had their own

or “men servants?” These scribes of the Chancellor were very important officials: they were intrusted with official seals, and allowed to transact on their own responsibility important business affairs connected with the State. They appear generally with the title “Scribe in Charge of the Seal,” or, more literally, “he who writes with an Official Seal.” They are found under this title only towards the end of the Twelfth Dynasty, and their services were retained by the bureaucratic kings of the Thirteenth Dynasty, but no mention occurs of them in later times. They were employed in writing official documents, in keeping accounts, and in fixing prices to be paid for wages of labourers. From inscriptions that have been preserved, it would seem that each town^[72] had its own “Scribe in Charge of the Seal,” and we read of a “Scribe in Charge of the Seal of the labour bureau” in a Thirteenth Dynasty papyrus.^[73]

Besides the foregoing officials, who were doubtless paid by the Government, the Chancellor had also his private staff to manage his own estates and affairs. Among these may be mentioned^[74] a mer per, or “Steward;”^[75] a mer shenti, or “Superintendent of the Granary;”^[76] a sesh sha, or “letter writer;”^[77] and an ari aa, or “doorkeeper.”^[78]

The profession of the seal engraver was obviously an important one in Egypt, but we do not find any references to his occupation in the ancient literature. He was called the mer kesti, and the scarab-seal of one named Amenŷ-ankh is in the possession of Mr. Arthur Evans (see Pl. XVII, 27).^[79]

6. Seal Engravers and the
Technique of Seal Engraving.

The process of making a seal out of hard stone was simple enough; a suitable piece of amethyst, jasper, or other material was taken, cut into the shape of a cylinder, stamp, or scarabaeus beetle, and polished. The device or inscription was then engraved in intaglio. In the case of steatite, schist, and other soft stones, the device was sometimes drawn in ink^[80] before being cut, and the seal was finished by being dipped into a vitreous glaze in order to harden it.

Pottery and paste scarab seals were moulded in terra-cotta moulds. A lump of potter’s clay or paste was taken, then pressed into a dusted mould, and flattened with a knife at the bottom. It was then shaken out and left to dry. When dry, the scarab was placed in the engraver’s hands, and the inscription or device was cut on the elliptical base; the whole was then sometimes coated with vitreous glaze.

The glazes used were of different colours, varying from pale blue to deep violet, and from pale to dark green. Sometimes red and yellow glazes were also employed. Often the glazes have changed colour, and sometimes only faint traces of it remain on a seal. Seals that are now brown in colour were originally green, while grey or white examples were generally blue.

The tools used were apparently of four kinds: a knife, a graver, a simple drill, and a tubular drill.

The knife, perhaps of hardened bronze, was used for cutting the specimens of the softer materials into shape, while the graver, of flint or obsidian, was employed for cutting the device or inscription. Herodotus mentions^[81] that the Ethiopians pointed their arrows with the same sort of hard stone or flint that was used for engraving signets.

The simple drill, used for drilling the soft stone seals and for engraving those of the hard stone class, consisted of a metal drill with handle, the butt end of which revolved inside a stone or wooden cap which the engraver held in his hand, and was thus able to direct the point to the right place. The drill itself was made to revolve by means of rapidly moving forwards and backwards by a bow, the string of which was wound round the stick of the drill. Carpenters and cabinet workers in the East still use a similar bow drill at the present day.

The tubular drill was also worked in the same way with a bow, but instead of the drill being pointed as in the simple drill, it was tubular. With hard stones both these kinds of drill were used, with emery powder and oil or water.