By Guitty Azarpay and Jeanette Zerneke

Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative
University of California, Berkeley

Introduction

This Internet publication highlights a collection of Sasanian sealstones and presents them in the context of the Sasanian Empire. The sealstone collection is documented in "Sasanian Seals from the Collection of the Late Edward Gans, at the University of California, Berkeley" by Guitty Azarpay, Et. al.

The publication includes two methods of navigation. The first is a website that includes a method of searching the seal collection and seeing the related resources from a text based browser. The second is using the TimeMap time and place viewers to access the resources from within a visual map based environment. These multiple access methods are included in order to provide a wide audience with the type of access best suited to their technical and network access capabilities and information needs.

Background

The publication is a collaboration between the Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of California, Berkeley, International and Area Studies, University of California, Berkeley and the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative.

The publication includes the study of the Edward Gans collection of Sasanian sealstones (377 seals including several possible forgeries) at the University of California, Berkeley. The sealstones under study are limited to examples produced during the period of the Sasanian empire (AD 224-642) in the ancient Near East. As the last great Iranian monarchy before the Arab conquest of Western Asia, the Sasanian dynasty is best remembered for its distinctive cultural expressions and for its length, more than four centuries. The Sasanian age was a time of dynamic cultural and economic revival, when a new Persian dynasty in southwestern Iran extended its dominion over much of Western and Central Asia, in territories that stretched from Transcaucasia to the Indus. The Sasanian age was also a time of intensified trade and exchange when the Persian empire served as a major gateway to the transcontinental Silk Road that linked the West with China and the Far East.

The collection of sealstones has been thematically cataloged. See: "Note on the Classification of the Seals" by Sanjyot Mehendale in "Sasanian Seals from the Collection of the Late Edward Gans, at the University of California, Berkeley" by Guitty Azarpay, Et. al., on the publication website.

Seal Collection Online

The database for the present study contains information about each seal's pictorial theme and motif and its shape, material of manufacture, iconography and inscription. This database provides a basis for creative manipulation of information. We hope that the relative simplicity of the format adopted for the present electronic study will encourage the addition of other, larger collections of such seals to our database. The addition to the present database of other collections would substantially enhance our search for answers to questions about a seal's different functions in the Near East during the period of Late Antiquity. The database might then be tapped for information on differences between stones, shapes, motifs and themes used in private, commercial, administrative and legal transactions. The socio-religious significance of certain specimens could be more fully explored, and the chronology and specific provenance of various categories of seals clarified.

The Sasanian Empire Website

The Sasanian Empire Website: http://ecai.org/sasanianweb is an interface for the publication with access to rich resources that can be easily used for teaching or general browsing. The Website provides access to the document, "Sasanian Seals from the Collection of the Late Edward Gans, at the University of California, Berkeley" by Guitty Azarpay, et al., and to the seal images and database through an online Web application. The online application facilitates comparison of seals by the various search criteria; presents the full catalog record for each seal; and presents online images of the seals, which are larger and easier to view than the original objects. The Website provides browser access to some of the Sasanian Empire contextual information and the Sasanian Empire site images from the collection of Guitty Azarpay.

The Sasanian Publication in TimeMap

The time and place access method for the publication is through the ECAI TimeMap interactive interface, which displays map layers with a time scale bar. There are two versions of the TimeMap interface for the publication. The first is a web browser based Java interface which allows online display of the publication resources. The ECAI TimeMap desktop interface with advanced capabilities can be downloaded to your computer. See the Maps link for information about the publication map interfaces.

The downloadable TimeMap version of the publication provides much more interactive functionality. It is useful for research or advanced learning. In addition, in the downloadable version the user can add additional resources from their own collection or other sources to compare to the information in the publication.

The TimeMap interface presents the Sasanian Empire and the Gans Seal Collection in the context of time and place. It is an example of the capabilities of the ECAI system to include Geographic Information System(GIS) data, historic maps, images, and texts in an integrated interface. Since the individual seals in the Gans collection have no provenance, the Sasanian Seal Collection Website and Web application are presented as a single map layer with a geographic extent based on the approximate maximum extent of the Sasanian Empire and a time range for the whole empire period. Additional geographic layers relating to the Sasanian Empire are included to provide a richer context for the seals. Two boundaries showing the empire extent near the beginning and end of the empire are presented. A gazetteer of Sasanian Empire places and their attributes are included with information derived from the Sasanian Empire Map published by Tübinger in Germany. Five key sites in the Sasanian Empire are presented in a map layer that links to images and descriptions of the sites. The source map for the gazetteer is displayed as a layer in its approximate location on the map. In addition, another map from the Tübinger Atlas which shows the topography, hydrography and place names is included for visual reference. Background layers with current country boundaries and river locations place the resources in the context of the current world. Each layer has an accompanying documentation layer including bibliographic and source information.

See the Sasanian TMView User Guide for description and screenshots of the downloadable TimeMap version of the publication.

Advantages of this form of publication

As the first in the series, this publication provides a good example of the ECAI methodology and the TimeMap interface capabilities. The publication demonstrates how digital resources from a variety of sources can be organized in the time and space interface to improve access to information, provide teaching resources, and enhance research potential. The authors of the publication are pleased with the additional capabilities of this Internet publication over those of a traditional print publication.

The online publication of the Gans Seal Collection allows wider access to the seals than would be possible for the physical objects. The seal display format shows the seals and the impressions larger than the original object. This helps users identify both the design and workmanship of the object. The search function allows users to quickly compare objects by multiple characteristics. The method of displaying the cataloging and images of the seals provides an example for other object collections such as coins.

The ECAI Internet publication of the Gans Sasanian Seal Collection gives a historic and cultural context for the Collection. This provides a useful teaching tool. It can also be used to incorporate the Seals in a resource for learning about this area of the world.

The authors hope that this publication will enable and encourage further development of geographic and time based information about the Sasanian Empire and support research on the provenance and use of the sealstones.

Further information about the content and design of the online publication is documented in the Sasanian Empire Project – Technical Summary.

 

Suggested citation:
Azarpay, Guitty and Zerneke, Jeanette, "A Sasanian Seal Collection in Context: Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative Publication of the Edward Gans Collection at University of California, Berkeley" (May, 2002).
1,176 images, 1 pdf file, 5 maps.
An ECAI ePublication. http://escholarship.cdlib.org/ecai/