Mythical Figures on Bactrian Amulet from Ancient Times

Bactrian Amulet, Ancient, Images Two Sides, Authenticated and Published

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From our collection that began while we lived in Afghanistan comes this ancient Bactrian limestone amulet is incised with figures of humans and animals that carry a mythical meaning, one that we cannot fully translate. The excavator of parts of the Bactria-Margiana Archeological Complex, Dr. Victor Sarianidi, describes this particular seal in his work Myths of Ancient Bactria-Margiana on Its Seals and Amulets, pages 248, 249, figures 1367.1 and 1367.2. 

Victor Sarianidi notates the amulet thus: 1367. Amulet. Pink limestone, D[iameter] - 2.35 cm, h[eight] meaning thickness - 1.5 cm. [Since he published the image from the photo of an impression of the seal, it does not show up as pink limestone in the book.] Standing human figure, one hand on his waist, another raised. Smaller figure stands in front of the first one with outstretched arms. A plant on the right side of the figure. // Horned deer running to the right. A tree in front of the animal, a bird(?) under its belly. Above the deer there is some other animal. 

Dr. Sarianidi became a friend of ours through our interest in his work. When he learned that we had a collection of Bactrian artifacts, he came to our home for a visit and asked for photographs of our Bactrian seals and amulets for his intended publication mentioned above. He examined each of the seals in our collection, chose those that he recognized as genuine antiquities, and wrote copious notes on each one. 

Victor taught us a great deal about our seals and what they revealed about the beliefs and behavior of the ancient Bactrian people. His interpretation of that culture is included in the book cited above. 

The amulet was collected in Afghanistan where Bactria is located. 

I invite your inquiries.

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Bactrian Amulet Depicts Scorpions, Snakes, Bare Foot

Ancient Bactrian Clay Amulet Authenticated, Published by Archeologist 

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This thirty-five hundred year old Bactrian amulet was scribed into an oval shaped clump of clay. The clay appears that it was never glazed. The amulet is double sided, bearing an image of a scorpion on one side. On the opposite side of the scorpion image there is a drawing of a human foot stepping on a serpent. The sole of the foot appears to have a puncture wound. The amulet was perhaps made to protect the wearer from stepping on snakes and scorpions and being stung or bitten. The Karakum desert is still well populated with poisonous snakes and scorpions; it is therefore no wonder that the people of Bactria and Margiana needed protection from the creatures. 

So many of the seals and amulets of the Bactria-Margiana culture tell a story and reveal a facet of the everyday lives or the religious beliefs of that civilization. As Dr. Victor Sarianidi writes in his work on Myths of Ancient Bactria-Margiana on Its Seals and Amulets:

'As scorpions, like snakes, are typical representatives of the fauna of the arid regions of Central Asia, there is no wonder that they were so popular in glyptics and apparently in myths of the ancient Bactrian tribes. Scorpions were frequently depicted in the centre of Bactrian seals and amulets....' (Sarianidi, op. cit., p. 45)

Opposite side of amulet:

Dr. Sarianidi took photographs of our Bactrian collection when he came to visit the United States several years ago. In writing the work cited above, he included this particular seal/amulet on pages 256-57, figures 1417.1 and 1417.2. He notated the clay amulet as 'Amulet, pierced near the edge. Ceramics, 5.1 x 3.9 cm, [thickness] 0.9 cm.... Scorpion // human footprint over a snake'

This artifact was collected in Afghanistan, which is the present name of the region in which ancient Bactria's ruins are located. 

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Ancient Bactrian Seal with Elaborate Floral Pattern in White Stone

I am including the story of how I was introduced into the fascinating early history of Bactrian ornamental arts.  Contact me with questions or for invoice through the private message form at the top right of this page.

This ancient Bactrian seal has been in our collection for some years now, but it dates from long ago. It was made by a stone carver living in the Bactria of four thousand years before the present. 

The seal has been authenticated and published by Dr. Victor Sarianidi, the archeologist who has led excavations in different locations within the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex which encompasses a good part of Western Asia. 

My introduction to the ancient Central Asian pre-Alexander Bactrian culture happened on a sidewalk in Kabul, Afghanistan. My husband and I were strolling along the main shopping corridor of Shar-i-nau or The New City. We were using the day off from work to do some shopping for the household, as we were living in Kabul at the time. We turned the corner from the Chai Khana or Tea House and there on the sidewalk, a merchant from a village had opened his shop on a colorful scarf spread on the concrete walk. Fascinated by what we saw, we leaned over the ancient pieces spread before us. 

With gestures and the merchant's limited English and our limited Farsi, we understood that he had purchased the old previously buried pieces from people who had been plundering the ruins of old Bactria, the Afghan town called Balkh. We recognized the pieces as being from another age, but we knew nothing about their provenance nor what their age might be. We collected many such items such as vessels, seals and statuettes. Years later we came home and unpacked our treasures. Only much later we discovered that other people had come in contact with this merchant and others while they lived in Kabul and they had acquired more knowledge and more artifacts than we had done. 

Those collectors mentioned a Russian archeologist who had led excavations in Bactria and was still leading excavations in Turkmenistan into what he and other archeologists call the Bactria-Margiana Archeological Complex, a material culture that extended from Eastern Anatolia to the Indus Valley and from Turkmenistan to Baluchistan. These were ruined settlements that had been occupied by people who made many of the same images on their vessels and on their personal adornments.

This particular seal is notated and illustrated in Dr. Sarianidi's book Myths of Ancient Bactria-Margiana on Its Seals and Amulets, pages 238-9, figures 1270.1 and 1270.2.

It is identified as 'Seal, corrugated edges. White stone. D(iameter) 4.1 cm; 
H (thickness) - 1.9 cm. Nine-petal rosette. On the back side of the seal there are nine drilled cavities; the handle has three cut lines of decoration. One beam of the seal is broken.' 
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