The CMS Databases
The CMS Databases
The CMS project in Marburg digitalized the material published in the CMS series and recorded it in two databases. The Seals Database documented the seals and their ancient impressions and the Carriers of Seal Impressions Database recorded the objects with ancient seal impressions. In 2008, the CMS Databases were integrated in Arachne, the central object database of the German Archaeological Institute and the Archaeological Institute of the University of Cologne.
The information in the Databases will often differ from that found in the printed volumes. This is because mistaken identifications that were published in older volumes have been corrected in the Databases. Moreover more and better images of the objects as well as revised drawings were used when available.
Access and search the CMS Databases
The language of the Databases is German. The German-English and English-German glossaries provided below will enable the non-German speaker to use the database. The English translation of the terms was undertaken by Olga Krzyszkowska.
- German-English
- English-German
As of April 2023, the CMS Databases are integrated in iDAI.objects arachne. The Databases can be accessed via CMS volume or through the general interface of the iDAI.objects arachne. This interface (Arachne 4) is changed in comparison to the original one (Arachne 3) and does not allow access to the two databases separately. Moreover, it is not possible anymore to search via specific fields or access the lists of terms used in each of them. This significantly impedes the process of searching.
Despite this, if the search terms are known it is still possible to search through the Databases. These are provided in the lists below, following their English translation. At the end of the list you will find a list of the search terms for the locations as they have been transcribed from Greek to German.
- Provenance
- Shape
- Material and Technique
- Condition
- General information on decoration
- Figural motifs othen than creatures
- Living creatures
- Ornaments
- Stylistic attribution
- Locations Greek-German
In order to search in Arachne 4, type in the search field 'cms' and then the search term, e.g., 'cms Frau' (cms woman). It is also possible to do combined searches, e.g., if you want to search for a lentoid with a woman and a goat type 'cms lentoid Frau Ziege' (cms lentoid woman goat). You can also exclude terms by puting '-' before them, e.g. 'cms lentoid Frau -Ziege' (cms lentoid woman -goat).
It is advised that you register in Arachne (free of cost) so that you can access better quality images.