Sassanian glyptic arts were highly influenced by Mesopotamian traditions and styles. A wide range of Assyrian and Babylonian prototypes, to which various Sassanian images owe their original inspirations, were directly borrowed by Sassanian artists and creatively adapted to local tastes. However, significant Sassanian inventions, which are the pictorial reflections of a wide variety of religions that once flourished in the Sassanian empire, not only make a distinctive Sassanian style, but also provide essential evidence to Sassanian arts that reveal religious practices and mythological figures. Gayomard was an eschatological figure, primordial giant in the Zoroastrian tradition. He was believed to be the first man, the source of mankind and the first person to rise from the dead when the world is reborn. On some Sassanian seals, he is always accompanied by a lion-headed dog.
For more about stamp seals, see our relevant blog post: Making their Mark
