Bibliogr. en fin de contrib. Notes bibliogr.

While the production of scarabs had started in the early Middle Kingdom in Egypt, it increased tremendously during the first millennium BCE throughout the ancient world. In addition to the production in and for Egypt, new workshops, especially at Naukratis, started to manufacture these small objects for consumption in the entire Mediterranean area. The Western Asiatic production of seal amulets, attested since the Middle Bronze Age, continued to flourish during the Iron Age. In contrast to second-millennium scarabs, however, the first-millennium production both in Egypt and the Near East has hardly been investigated. The present volume results from a gathering of specialists in Egyptology, Near Eastern archaeology and classical archaeology at the University of Münster, to discuss the research potential of first-millennium scarabs and to present the results of recent research. For the first time, studies on Iron Age scarabs covering the whole eastern Mediterranean world, including Egypt and Nubia, are brought together in one volume, demonstrating the global character of this specific artefact group during the first millennium BCE.
(Source : éditeur)