[Illustration: Fig. 31. IMPRESSION FROM A CYLINDER-SEAL OF PEPŶ I. (In Mr. Piers’ Collection.)]
Official cylinder-seals are of two kinds. They either bear (_a_) the name of the king together with the title of the office or official, but not the personal name of the latter; or (_b_) simply the title of the official without the name of the king. The Royal name appears once or thrice on the seals of the first group, and, if repeated, the rest of the inscription is placed between the names; the titles and name of the king are almost always written in a direction contrary to that of the other words, apparently as a mark of respect (see fig. 31). These official cylinder-seals range in date from the First Dynasty to the time of Pepŷ II of the Sixth Dynasty, when they became superseded by the seals of the stamp form.
Cylinder-seals bearing the name and titles of officials are also known (see fig. 32). These appear to have been used as the private seals of the persons whose names are engraved upon them. They date from the Twelfth Dynasty into the Twenty-Sixth but are very rare.
A very small class of cylinder-seal bears scroll patterns or geometrical devices.[99] These appear for the first time during the intermediate period between the end of the Sixth and the beginning of the Twelfth Dynasty, when they are generally made of glazed pottery, and are very coarsely executed. The specimens of a later time (probably Seventeenth or early Eighteenth Dynasty) are of glazed steatite, and beautifully cut.
2. BUTTON-SHAPED AND HEMI-CYLINDER SEALS.
A small, but very distinctive class of seal, cut in the shape of a button, with flat circular disc and loop at the back (see fig. 33), has recently been found in Egypt, and closely akin to this class is another, but much smaller one, the examples of which are cut in the form of a hemi-cylinder (sometimes with projecting base), and pierced through their length by a hole of [Sidenote: Hemi-cylinders.] sufficient size to admit of a fine piece of string being inserted (see fig. 34). Some of the button-shaped seals have ornamented backs: instead of the loop being plain as in fig. 39, it is cut in such a way as to represent two hawks’ heads, or the fore-parts of two lions back to back. Occasionally we also find specimens in the shape of a hippopotamus’ head (fig. 40).