PORTION OF A SELJUK BRASS LION LOCK IN THE FORM OF A FELINE

LOCKS AND LOCKSMITHS IN SELJUKPERIOD, Seljuk Locks have been made in Persia, since at least the second millennium BCE. The most ancient lock, dating to the 13th century BCE, was excavated at the ziggurat of Choga Zanbil (see ČOḠĀ ZANBIL) in Khuzestan. This lock consisted of a bolt and a tumbler and was probably used on a wooden door (Wulff, pp. 68-69). Tumbler locks, also known as “Egyptian locks,” dating from the second millennium BCE have been found in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Another type of ancient lock, known as the “Greek” or “Homerian lock,” is a toothed-bolt lock (Wulff, pp. 66-67). The mechanism of this lock is not controlled by a primitive sickle-shaped key but by an iron key with wards. It is possible that the stone door of the tomb of the Achaemenid Artaxerxes III (r. 359-38 BCE) built into the mountainside at Persepolis was secured by such lock. The doors of the tomb consist of two solid stone slabs about 1.5 m high and 1.5 m wide with upper and lower corner pivots that revolved in round holes: a circular keyhole about 6 cm in diameter is on one panel, and a boxlike catch on the other. It can be assumed that the only mechanism that would work in such circumstances was a toothed-bolt lock, probably made of wood with a metal key (Tanavoli and Wertime, p. 50).