The Achaemenid Empire rose from a strong military and political background which differed to the traditional Mesopotamian kingdoms. Instead of destroying all the astonishing achievements in art created by Mesopotamian ancestors, the Achaemenid Empire preserve and inherit the traditional practices of Mesopotamian glyptic arts. They also adapted multiple Babylonian religious motifs to their own aesthetic tastes. Most Achaemenid stamp seals have no obvious differences from Neo-Babylonian features in either external appearances or depicted motifs. The pyramid shape and the religious scenes which feature a male worshipper standing in front of an altar, much like this seal, indicate a direct aesthetic inheritance from the Neo-Babylonian period.
For more information on how seals were used in the Western Asiatic, please see our blog post: Making their mark: A Concise Guide to Western Asiatic Stamp Seals
