The Archives of Artaxata: Archival Practice in the Capital of Ancient Armenia

This article examines the seal impressions from Artaxata discovered in 1979/80 during excavations carried out by the Armenian Academy of Sciences on Hills V and VIII. As the archive on Hill VIII is quite small with only 20 to 25 seal impressions, the focus of this paper lies on the approximately 8,000 seal impressions found on hill V. The complex was dated to the period from 180 BC to 59 AD and it was assumed that it was a “private” archive or a kind of “chancellery.” An analysis of the finds in a wider context and the comparison with other archival complexes of the Hellenistic period as well as an examination of the characteristic features of “official” seals (size, image, shape, number of impressions) leads to the conclusion that it must have been a public archive, most probably it is the city archive of Artaxata.

Peribsen and Lower Egypt

The article deals with some aspects of Peribsen’s policy. In author’s opinion this pharaoh of the Second dynasty possibly led military campaigns in Lower Egypt. This hypothesis can be maintained by the data of seal impressions, stone vessels and the steles from the Early Dynastic period. The author shows that Peribsen’s election of Seth as the god of royal power and replacement of traditional patron of Egyptian rulers Horus by him could be connected with disintegration of Egypt into two parts. The author shows that the toponyms %Tt and &A-mHw in Peribsen’s monuments must be connected with Lower Egypt. The fact that place-names are connected with the tribute from Delta to Peribsen can prove that this ruler tried to conquer Lower Egypt. In the present study the comparative historical research is used.