Ancient seals of the Middle East. Cylindrical seals of Mesopotamia Cylindrical seals as a historical source

Seals of the Ancient East

Today, no one can present any important document without a seal - an impression on paper made with blue or blue ink and confirming the authenticity of this document. But how long ago did the first seals appear and what functions did they originally perform?

It turns out that the most ancient samples appeared in the Ancient East! They were well known in Mesopotamia, Egypt, India and China. All the great ancient civilizations had seals in general similar, there are differences between them that are characteristic of each people and time.

For example, the seals of the Sumerians, the inhabitants of ancient Mesopotamia, had a cylindrical shape, from which they got their name. A hole was drilled along the longitudinal axis of the cylinder, which made it possible to roll it over wet clay, leaving a unique imprint on it. Cylindrical seals were carved from hard stone and often contained complex plots, which were distinguished by the richness and accuracy of details, high artistry. The Sumerians used these to identify any property and when concluding transactions. It was also believed that this most important attribute of every inhabitant of Mesopotamia has magical properties.

The ancient Egyptian seals were more reminiscent of modern ones, although they are the earliest - they were most widely used in the 3rd - 2nd millennium BC. They are also carved from natural minerals and stone, and are known as "scarab seals" because one side of them was invariably adorned with a figure of a scarab, considered sacred in ancient Egypt. The other side contained hieroglyphs with a name - to mark property, or a spell if the seal was used in religious rituals. They were used by applying paint on them and applying them to papyrus, on which a color imprint remained, or by squeezing an impression into wet clay. As the influence of Egypt waned, the scarab gradually disappeared from the seals, but their oval shape and function remained the same.

In China, the seal was not just a means of identifying the owner of the property and the authenticity of documents, but also always a beautiful work of art. The part used to hold the seal was usually decorated with figures of animals, dragons, or stylized bamboo. Carving seals from semi-precious and precious stones and minerals, such as jade, the Chinese achieved such an effect that the figures turned out to be painted in different shades and patterns due to the natural uneven color of the stone itself and the inevitable inclusions of another breed. Chinese carvers attached great importance to calligraphy and composition. They managed to place several hieroglyphs on a small area so that they were not only perfectly readable, but also represented a complex, beautiful and elegant composition.
Another interesting feature of the Chinese press is that it gradually becomes an integral attribute of any official, and moreover, an object certifying his position and power, and the loss of an official seal was strictly punished. Seals of high-ranking Chinese officials began to be made from precious metals. For example, the imperial seal was made of gold of the highest standard.

Ancient Indian seals were influenced by the caste religious system of India. Thus, not a single ancient Indian seal was discovered, which would depict the plots of the battle. This is explained by the fact that the highest ruling caste - the Brahmins - are scientists and clergy, and not warriors, as is the case in other states. Therefore, on the found samples there are images of mythical animals and gods. And of course, images that indicate the commercial use of seals in India to indicate the contents of vessels and bags.

Seals made in the form of a cylinder are among the most ancient identifiers of the owner's signature, as well as the endorsement of documents and the marking of private property. Such seals were most popular in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon and the Ancient East. They were made in the form of a small cylinder, carved from stone and having a hole along the longitudinal axis. They were decorated with graphic images or text used as a stamp. The desired impression was obtained by horizontally rolling the seal over wet clay. Occasionally it was possible to meet seals in the form of convex cylinders. With their help, paint was applied to papyrus or parchment.

In Mesopotamia, cylinder seals were made of hard stone, usually in dark colors. Natural minerals were used: amethyst, hematite, chalcedony, limestone, soapstone. But in Egypt, cylinder seals were mainly made of glass or faience. State seals were made of semi-precious stones. If modern seals are stored, for example, in safes, then in the old days they were always carried with them, as the most important sign of the owner's property

Cylinder seals were most popular in Mesopotamia, where they were used to seal transactions recorded on clay tablets. These documents were affixed with the personal seals of the seller, buyer and witnesses. As for the impressions of cylinder seals, they could be found on clothes and amulets. In addition, they were used to seal vessels and doors, protecting their property from unauthorized entry and theft. In the event that a citizen lost his seal, he hired special heralds who walked around the city and shouted about the loss of the seal and its further invalidity.
Ancient cylinder seals are one of the best creations of the Ancient East. If the very first seals were decorated with a simple geometric pattern, then later copies were decorated with complex plots and compositions. Sometimes it was a text, and sometimes it was continuous friezes with scenes from religion or mythology with the participation of many characters: gods, famous warriors, animals, birds, flowers and plants.

In Mesopotamia, seals were both the hallmark of the owner and his talisman. After death, they were laid to the deceased along with his personal belongings. Unlike large sculptures and bas-reliefs, small cylinder seals were not destroyed and destroyed by vandals and conquerors. They are well preserved to this day, with virtually no significant damage. And today, thanks to these old samples with complex images, signatures of former owners and other invaluable information, experts have the opportunity to recreate the ancient history of the world bit by bit.

In addition to their uniqueness as a source of knowledge about the economy and history of Mesopotamia, these seals are highly artistic works of the finest stone carvers. Today, one of the largest and best-preserved collections of cylinder seals is on display at the British Museum.

Read 3051 once

Robert B. Mason

Translation - 2009

Introduction

Seals provide interesting material for research into changes in technology and materials over time. The beginning of any understanding of the materials used is their hardness. Hardness can be measured on the Moh's hardness scale from 1 to 10 (see fig. 1.) Any stone will be composed of certain minerals of a certain hardness. To process a mineral or stone, it is necessary to use a material of equal or, preferably, greater hardness.

A group of minerals deserves special attention - quartz, silicon dioxide, with a hardness of 7 on the Moh scale. They are divided into two main types: macrocrystalline - rock crystal, smoky quartz, milky quartz, amethyst and rose quartz; and a variety of crypto- or microcrystalline, collectively called calcedony - agate, carnelian, tiger's eye, bloodstone (heliotrope), jasper and slate (including flint). Rock crystal is found in the form of pebbles in the Tigris and Euphrates, therefore it is relatively accessible and has been used since ancient times. It is believed that amethyst comes from Egypt, but there are also sources in Iran and Turkey. It is known about the presence of rose quartz in Mesopotamia. Chalcedony, carnelian, bloodstone and agate were imported from India and Iran. Jasper comes from the Zagros Mountains.

There were three main seal cutting techniques used. The first is manual, when the cutter was held in the hand. Moorey (1994 fig. 6) shows sharp flint tools from 3000-2600. BC. from Kish, which were probably used directly or when impaled on wooden handles and were excellent for working other stones. The second technique is drilling with a bow drill, in which the drill rotated first in one direction, then in the other, depending on the movement of the “bow” back and forth. The cutter could position the drill vertically, holding it, or horizontally - then he had to hold the workpiece. The third technique - processing was carried out with a rotating whetstone, which until very recently was rotated with the help of a "bow". In each case, the cutter, drill, or grinding wheel had to be made of a material at least the same hardness as the work piece, or coated with an abrasive of a material of the same or greater hardness.

Collon (1987 fig. 452) gives an impression of a seal from the Old Babylonian period, which shows a specimen in the making, with pre-working with a wheel, then drilling, and finally finishing by hand. A detailed examination of the production technique can be done using a powerful microscope or a scanning electron microscope (SEM). An SEM study at the British Museum compared the effects of processing on features found on quartz seals. For example, drilling with a flint held in the hand; a copper drill with fixed corundum and a worn copper drill also with corundum as a working fluid were compared with drilling on ancient artifacts.

The order - first drilling the cylinder, and then decorating it - was optional. Sometimes they find finished cylinders that were not decorated, sometimes they are decorated, but destroyed in the process of drilling a hole. The deviation of the drilled holes shows that they were made from opposite ends.

There are also isolated test specimens, which were usually created on waste pieces of soft stone (see Collon 1987 Fig 450).

History and development

The agricultural revolution of the Neolithic period led to the formation of settled communities in the Middle East. Such communities provided unprecedented opportunities for material possessions, and there was a need to develop a system of labeling who owns what. These are simple prints. The seals in the ROM collection are made from a soft green stone known as chlorite and may date back to 3500 BC. (Fig. 2.) When using a harder stone, such as flint, a simple linear image is easily made on such a material. Similar images, called bullae, have been found on clay lamps from an excavation site at Nineveh in northern Iraq. Bullae have wicker prints on the back. Stone vessel from Syria circa 5200 BC was sealed with imprinted clay (Fortin 1999). The continued development of a settled way of life led to the further development of trade and commerce. By about 3500 B.C. first observed the development of the technique of records for the management of trade. These are ceramic tokens, clay lumps of various shapes, which were intended to designate various goods. They are sealed inside a clay bowl, signs depicting individual goods have been carved or stamped on the outside of the clay bowl, and the seal has been rolled over the surface.

Soon the clay balls were replaced by clay tablets with cuneiform inscriptions in the Sumerian language (Fig. 3.) In addition to tablets and impressions on ceramic vessels, baskets, bags and even doors, there are other documents that were certified by seals. Fortin (1999) gives footprints of a child's foot from a pit at Tell Meskene, ancient Emar on the upper Euphrates, dated to about 1200 BC. The father was obliged to sell these children, but the owner considered them too small and left them with their parents until they reached a suitable age. Meanwhile, he took each child's footprint as evidence of deferred possession, along with witness seals.

At the end of the fourth millennium BC. one can see a noticeable dispersion of the Sumerian material culture in Mesopotamia. It included pottery, especially the infamous chamfered bowls, clay balls and tablets, and cylinder seals. This period is named after the great city of Uruk, later immortalized as the capital of Gilgamesh. Cylindrical seals from Uruk are very large, usually made of limestone or plaster with the addition of lapis lazuli. Unlike later cylinder seals, they are not drilled lengthwise. The shape could have come from wooden or bone prototypes. Evidence of the use of such flimsy materials at the time - although the most common type of so-called seals. "king high priest" "priest king" (see Collon 1987 fig 807), the most common impressions are geometric (see Collon 1987 fig 9), meaning that later seals have rotted away.

In the Jemdet Nasr culture of the same period, seals were short and thick, cylindrical in shape (Fig. 4.). They were widespread - they are found in Egypt and Syria. Predominantly soft dark stone such as chlorite or calcite is used, mainly processed with a drill. Harder specimens of rock crystal are very rarely found. They could be processed using corundum - aluminum oxide, the mineral corundum. It was found in the excavations at Ur and is also known from Sumerian texts, where it is mentioned that it was set in lead. Corundum may have come from the island of Naxos or from India, although its sources are also known in the upper Euphrates. The most common plots are working people and walking animals. By the end of the 4th millennium BC. cylinder seals were simplified, the relief image was applied by a rotating wheel. Such seals were widespread, they are found from Egypt to Iran.

The end of the fourth millennium approximately coincides with the beginning of the Early Bronze Age. Based on the name, the period may be erroneously defined by the use of bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, while the main alloy used at this time was arsenic copper. During this period, the trade in valuable copper goods and later in tin became significant, since they were not publicly available materials. This trade, as well as other forms of exchange, came to be controlled by the ruling elite. Thus, the material culture of this period is often determined by the ruling elite - from the pyramids of Egypt, the cyclopean architecture of Greece, to the giant monuments of Europe. To exercise this control, Mesopotamia developed a complex bureaucracy that used cuneiform writing on clay tablets and markings of ownership with cylinder seals. Thus, the Bronze Age becomes the heyday of cylinder seals.

The influence of Mesopotamian culture can be illustrated by seals from Egypt that date from around 3100-2686. BC. (Fig.5.)

Some of the earliest seals of the third millennium are made of a very soft material, talc, the hydrous magnesium silicate, often called steatite, which is soft enough to be marked with a fingernail. Long thin wheel-cut geometric cylinder seals (see Collon 1987 fig. 41) from northern Mesopotamia are made from this soft stone and then fired to enstatite, the anhydrous magnesium silicate. A similar specimen from Sumer is in the ROM collection (Fig. 6). It is made of lapis lazuli.

After about 2750 B.C. Lapis lazuli is found in Mesopotamia in large quantities. This is the Early Dynastic period of Sumer, the time of the Royal Tombs of Ur, where lapis lazuli objects are richly decorated. Lapis lazuli is so significant that in literature it is given a metaphorical role as a synonym for wealth and brilliant luxury. She was the property of gods and heroes. Although there are small sources of it in Iran, it is generally assumed that it was brought from Badakhshan in Afghanistan. It is more of a stone than a mineral. It is a real marble, a transformed limestone, composed mainly of the calcium carbonate of the mineral calcite. The blue color is due to the mineral lazulite, hydrous magnesium aluminum silicate. Lapis lazuli thus contains calcite and lazulite, often together with other minerals such as iron sulfide, pyrite. Fortin (1999 fig?) publishes a photo of an unworked piece found at Tell Mardikh, ancient Ebla, near Aleppo in Syria, in a context dating back to 2300 BC. Lapis was often sold raw.

Figurative seals from Sumer depict two main subjects: scenes of fights and scenes of feasts. The fight scenes change from earlier ones where the combatants are positioned horizontally (see Collon 1987 fig. 61) to later ones where they are positioned vertically (see Collon 1987 fig. 522). From 2600 BC there is a well-dated succession of royal seals, such as that of Mes-ane-pada, the first king of the First Dynasty of Ur (see Collon 1987 fig. 522). Sumerian cylinder seals from the second group depict feast scenes (see Collon 1987 fig. 93).

Akkadian (Akkadian) period, from about 2334 to 2193. BC, is the first example of a major Semitic culture in Mesopotamia. It was founded by Sargon of Akkad, a city believed to be near later Babylon. Sargon and his heirs, such as his grandson Naram-Sin, created an empire that stretched from the Mediterranean coast to the Persian Gulf. Akkadian seals are usually large cylinders with convex sides. Usually they have two plots. The fight scenes continue to show more prominent musculature and less clutter (Fig. 7). Scenes of feasts are replaced by richly decorated scenes of offerings to the deities of the Semitic Akkadians (Fig. 8.) The main material is serpentine (serpentine), a dark metamorphic stone formed from oceanic sediment and made its way to Iran and Turkey during the formation of the mountains Zagros (Zagros) and Taurus (Taurus). ). Other seals in low quality lapis, jade, diorite, cores of large shells, green and red jasper and rock crystal.

In the III period of Ur, between 2192 and 2004. BC. chlorite becomes the predominant material. It is slightly harder than serpentine and also comes from Iran and Turkey. Fighting scenes continue to be depicted, but the standard offering scenes become predominant, in which the deity is turned to the left, and the Lama (Lama), the goddess present at the offerings, says a prayer.

By the end of the third millennium, hematite, iron oxide, and cylinder seals are in circulation for the first four centuries of the second millennium (i.e. 2000-1600 BC), which corresponds to the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age (Middle Bronze Age). ). Hematite is a hard, heavy, dense mineral that requires careful processing. The main sources are located in eastern Turkey, although chemical analysis has identified at least five separate groups. Other materials are rock crystal, smoky quartz, amethyst, obsidian, red and white jasper, carnelian from India and amazonite, blue feldspar from Kashmir or the Ural Mountains. This is the period of the Old Assyrian Empire, today more commonly considered a trading zone covering the resource-rich eastern Anatolia, the source of hematite (Fig. 9.) In southern Mesopotamia, it is known as the Isin-Larsa period. . Now in the scenes of the offering, the worshiper is wearing a headdress, the so-called. "space-filling" objects, while the goddess Lama is depicted with her hands raised (Fig. 10, see also Collon 1987 fig. 153, Collon 1987 fig. 538).

In 1763 BC Hammurabi unifies central and southern Mesopotamia and establishes the Old Babylonian empire. Perhaps the best-known monument from this period is a black stele with a code of laws, adorned with an offering scene. The Old Babylonian period heralds the return of Akkadian and Early Dynastic combat scenes (Collon 1987 fig. 158) and duels with deities (Collon 1987 fig. 165). The scenes of the offerings are modified - the goddess Lama and the bearded king are depicted, the goddess opposite the king (Collon 1987 fig. 1, 166, 167). After the death of Hammurabi in 1750 BC. most of the seals bear obvious traces of drilling and wheelwork (Collon 1987 fig. 193).

In the western part of Greater Mesopotamia is the rich and powerful kingdom of Yamhad (Aleppo) (Yamhad (Aleppo)). The cylinder seals of this region often influence later styles, especially the guilloche motif and the manner in which the supreme deity is depicted (Collon 1987 fig. 209, 219). In the east, in the Elamite part of Iran, cylinders were made of bitumen (Collon 1987 fig. 225). The Hittite Anatolia will be cylindrical but not drilled down the center and have a seal on the underside (Collon 1987 fig. 841; 835). Around 1500 B.C. there is another dark spot in ancient history that marks the beginning of the Late Bronze Age. The seals of this period were originally made from hard stone of the quartz group. This includes various large-crystalline quartz, such as rock crystal, and microcrystalline, such as gray chalcedony and agate. There are two main cultural areas in Mesopotamia. In Babylon, these are the Kassites in 1155 BC, two main styles, rife with inscriptions, usually a long prayer (Fig. 11, see also Collon 1987 figs. 239; 240). In northern Mesopotamia and Syria - Mitanni. Two new materials appear: sintered quartz or faience (Fig. 12). The carved seals represent a mixture of old styles. For example, the seal of King Idrimi of Alalakh, Syria (King Idrimi of Alalakh), weighing 1500 carats, depicts a Babylonian goddess with Syrian guilloche (Collon 1987 fig. 546).

In the 14th-13th centuries. BC. the expansion of the Assyrian Empire (Middle Assyrian Empire). About 80% of Assyrian seals are made of hard stone, and none of faience. Cylindrical seals are made to take full advantage of the desired length impression effect, such as a long row of animals (cf. Collon 1987 fig. 279; 282).

In 1000 B.C. the Iron Age begins - the world of easier obtaining of metals. Government-organized trade and bureaucratic elites will become a thing of the past.

In the 9th century BC. there is an expansion of the Neo-Assyrian empire (Neo-Assyrian empire) - earlier seals from serpentine and limestone and later from quartz are generally thinner and longer barrel-shaped with round ends (cf. Collon 1987 fig. 340). Hunting and feasting are the main motifs, some may be associated with wall reliefs from the mid-8th century. BC. (cf. Collon 1987 fig. 656). At the end of the 8th c. the growth in the use of the alphabet instead of cuneiform writing on materials other than clay is leading to an increase in the use of flat seals. In 612 BC Assyria submits to Medes from Iran and the Babylonians. The seals of the Neo-Babylonian Empire continue to be cylindrical, using hard stone as a material (Fig. 13), while the use of flat seals increases (Fig. 14).

In 539 BC Cyrus the Great conquers Babylon, and in the 5th c. The Achaemenid Empire stretched from the Nile to the Indus. The royal archives were written in cuneiform on clay tablets and sealed with cylinder seals, thus showing the revival of cylinder seals. The Achaemenids quickly developed a new style of cylinder seals on barrel-shaped blanks of agate and chalcedony (Fig. 17. and 18.). By the end of the 5th c. cylinder seals fell into disuse.

Seals have long been used by the peoples of different ancient civilizations, performing important functions in the life of society. . In different ancient cultures, there were different forms and types of such products, which allowed for control and accounting, and document management. will talk about what these products were in ancient Mesopotamia.

Cylindrical seals of ancient Sumerians

The tribes of the ancient Sumerians who lived on the territory of the two rivers, located between the Tigris and Euphrates, created a developed civilization that left a large number of unique historical monuments, among which are the famous cylinder seals that first appeared in the ancient capital of the Sumerian kingdom, the city of Uruk, mentioned in the famous Sumerian epic about Gilgamesh.

Archaeologists surprised print size made of gypsum or limestone interspersed with lapis lazuli. Such seals were probably still made in large numbers from softer materials such as wood and bone, which could not survive to our time. But a large number of impressions that scientists found during excavations testify to their walking. They differed from the geometric images applied to limestone samples.

The Sumerians created original designs of impressions that allowed them to apply a long strip of images, while round stamp ensured the creation of an image limited by its size and shape. The great need for products of this type testified to the developed commodity-money relations and trade in ancient Sumer. With the help of cylinder seals with individual inscriptions and images, they kept records, certified their trade and other agreements, indicated that things belonged to a particular owner, and conducted an active document flow in public administration. cylindrical type and clay tablets made it possible to establish a complex system of accounting and control that existed in ancient Sumer in the 3rd millennium BC.

Judging by the number of remaining impressions with inscriptions of various types, make a seal from soft stone, bone or wood could be representatives of various social strata actively involved in economic relations. Later, the cylinder seals of the Sumerians became shorter and wider. Inside they had a longitudinal hole in the III millennium BC, they became widespread throughout Mesopotamia as a result of the development of copper smelting technology, they began to make metal cylinders. Probably, buy print, made of bronze, only very wealthy people and representatives of the state bureaucracy could afford, since bronze, which included copper, was a very expensive material. Bronze drills made it possible to process stone or bronze alloy faster than the corundum used before.

Today you can order printing online with any image on it to everyone. Thanks to the use of digital technologies, you can quickly create a seal most with any original print and any shape. For this you should use online designer of seals and stamps, with which the original print sketch is selected. A variety of original impressions are required for more than just business records. The original image will help to distinguish author's works from the mass of other products on the market, to stamp a collection of books in a personal library, to put your personal stamp on the surface of various products to indicate their belonging to a particular person. After drawing up the original design project, it will be possible to download print to your media and use the developed sketch to make the original print.

cylinder seal- a small cylinder carved from stone with a longitudinal axial hole, which was used in the ancient world as an identity card for the author of a document or a witness to its signing. The side surface of the cylinder (trucil) contained a unique stone carving, usually containing a religious plot. Cylinder seals were most widely used in Mesopotamia, where, starting from the Sumerian period, such a seal was the most important attribute of a person, always carried with him.

Manufacturing methods

Most cylinder seals were made in such a way that when rolled over a soft material (such as wet clay), a convex image was obtained. At the same time, drawings and ornaments of the seal itself were made indented. However, some cylinder seals, intended mainly for other written materials, were themselves made embossed and were used, for example, to ink a document made of parchment, papyrus, etc.

Spreading

Regions of distribution and finds of cylinder seals:

• Mesopotamia (refer to the Sumerian, Akkadian and Babylonian periods);
• North Caucasus (Maikop culture);
• Anatolia (belong to the Hittite kingdom, Mitanni and Urartu);
• Iran (refer to Elam and the Achaemenids);

The overwhelming majority of such seals were found in Mesopotamia due to the fact that the raw clay used there as a writing material was most suitable for the use of cylinder seals.

Application

Cylinder seal impressions have been found on a variety of surfaces, mainly on clay tablets, but also on clothing, amulets, and various other writing materials. Often, cylinder seals were rolled over pieces of clay sealing doors, vessels, etc. to confirm the inviolability of warehouses and stocks. Sometimes cylinder seals were very widespread, sometimes they were used only by the king, his closest associates and scribes.

Cylindrical seals in Mesopotamia

The most widespread and used cylinder seals were in Mesopotamia, where they were an integral part of the document flow. Among the cultures of this region, it was customary to draw up transactions on clay tablets with the participation of witnesses, while the seller, buyer and witnesses "signed" their cylinder seals. Sometimes the transaction was certified by a local official, acting as a "notary".

If a citizen lost his seal, it was customary to send messengers to different parts of the city, who shouted in every street about the loss of the seal by such and such a person and that such a seal was no longer valid.

The cylinder seal of a person after his death was usually placed with him in the grave, along with his other personal valuables.

Cylindrical seals as a historical source

Cylinder seals are an important source for studying the history of the states of the Ancient World. This is due to the fact that many of these seals, being made of stone, are well preserved and contain many unique scenes from religious rites. The science of sphragistics deals with the study of images on seals.

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Literature

• Nijhowne J.D. Politics, religion, and cylinder seals: a study of Mesopotamian symbolism in the second millennium BC. - Oxford, England: Archeopress, 1999. - 126 p. - ISBN 0860549984.

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An excerpt characterizing the cylinder seal

X
But the strange thing is, all these orders, cares and plans, which were by no means worse than others issued in similar cases, did not affect the essence of the matter, but, like the hands of a dial in a watch separated from the mechanism, spun arbitrarily and aimlessly, not capturing the wheels.
Militarily, the ingenious campaign plan that Thiers speaks of; que son genie n "avait jamais rien imagine de plus profond, de plus habile et de plus admirable [his genius never invented anything deeper, more skillful and more amazing] and regarding which Thiers, entering into a polemic with Mr. Fen, proves that the drawing up of this brilliant plan should be attributed not to the 4th, but to the 15th of October, this plan has never been and could not be carried out, because nothing was close to reality. [mosque] (as Napoleon called St. Basil's Church) turned out to be completely useless. Laying mines under the Kremlin only contributed to the fulfillment of the emperor's desire when leaving Moscow that the Kremlin be blown up, that is, that the floor on which the child was killed should be beaten. Persecution of the Russian The army, which so worried Napoleon, presented an unheard-of phenomenon.The French military leaders lost the sixty-thousandth Russian army, and only, according to Thiers, the art and, it seems, also the genius of Murat, managed to find, like a pin, this sixty-thousandth Russian army.
In diplomatic terms, all Napoleon's arguments about his generosity and justice, both before Tutolmin and Yakovlev, who was mainly concerned with acquiring an overcoat and wagon, turned out to be useless: Alexander did not receive these ambassadors and did not answer their embassy.
From a legal point of view, after the execution of the imaginary arsonists, the other half of Moscow burned down.
As regards the administration, the establishment of the municipality did not stop the robbery and brought only benefit to some persons who participated in this municipality and, under the pretext of maintaining order, plundered Moscow or saved their own from robbery.
In regard to religion, the work so easily arranged in Egypt by visiting the mosque did not bring any results here. Two or three priests found in Moscow tried to fulfill the will of Napoleon, but one of them was nailed on the cheeks by a French soldier during the service, and the following French official reported about the other: “Le pretre, que j” avais decouvert et invite a recommencer a dire la messe, a nettoye et ferme l "eglise. Cette nuit on est venu de nouveau enfoncer les portes, casser les cadenas, dechirer les livres et commettre d "autres desordres". breaking doors and locks, tearing books and making other disturbances.”]
In terms of trade, there was no response to the proclamation to the hard-working artisans and all the peasants. There were no hard-working artisans, and the peasants caught those commissars who went too far with this proclamation and killed them.
With regard to the amusement of the people and the troops with theaters, the matter did not succeed in the same way. The theaters established in the Kremlin and in Poznyakov's house immediately closed because actresses and actors were robbed.
Charity and that did not bring the desired results. False banknotes and non-false ones filled Moscow and had no price. For the French, who collected booty, they needed only gold. Not only did the counterfeit banknotes that Napoleon so graciously distributed to the unfortunate have no value, but silver was given below its value for gold.
But the most striking manifestation of the invalidity of the higher orders at that time was Napoleon's effort to stop the robberies and restore discipline.
That's what the ranks of the army reported.
“Robbery continues in the city despite orders to stop it. Order has not yet been restored, and there is not a single merchant who conducts trade in a lawful manner. Only marketers allow themselves to sell, and even then stolen things.
"La partie de mon arrondissement continue a etre en proie au pillage des soldats du 3 corps, qui, non contents d"arracher aux malheureux refugies dans des souterrains le peu qui leur reste, ont meme la ferocite de les blesser a coups de sabre, comme j "en ai vu plusieurs exemples".
“Rien de nouveau outre que les soldats se permettent de voler et de piller. Le 9 October.
“Le vol et le pillage continuent. Il y a une bande de voleurs dans notre district qu "il faudra faire arreter par de fortes gardes. Le 11 octobre".
[“Part of my district continues to be plundered by soldiers of the 3rd Corps, who are not content with taking away the meager property of the unfortunate inhabitants who have hidden in the cellars, but also with cruelty inflict wounds on them with sabers, as I myself have seen many times.”