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Sasanian probably due to its presence on such monuments as Taght-i Bostan but it was certainly in use in the Parthian period as the coins demonstrate, The eagle was employed both upon the seals(33) and as an architectural ornament.(34) We know that the old motif of the struggle of the king or god with some animal which represented the powers of evil, used frequently during the Achaemenian period, was still known in Parthian times and doubtless utilized by the engravers.(35)

In spite of considerable Hellenistic influence at Seleilcia-on-the-Tigris there was relatively little erotic material discovered there and such scenes as were familiar from Sumerian, Akadian, and Babylonian times were not often repeated on the clay plaques of the Parthians and do not seem to have been used on the Seals.(36)

The Sasanian period brings us to more certain ground for there is much material already in collections and definite information should be forthcoming shortly from excavations.(37) With the rise of the Sasanidae and their invasion of Mesopotamia there came about one of those revivals of art which the stimulus of such an event often seems to bring about. The change which is so obvious on the coinage(38) probably also found reflection in the work of the seal engravers. In the better class of workmanship this meant the abandonment of the parallel line technique and the production of more rounded and naturalistic examples.(39)

The most common shape of the Sasanian period was the hemisphere with a round base, but the globe with an oval base continued and this similarity with Parthian shapes is the cause of much of our difficulties in identification. Engraving was usually fairly deep since the seals were now never used on the flat surfaces of clay tablets. In shape and material the seals differ so little from the Parthian

33. Pl. II, no. 4; cp. op. cit., pl. XIX, 15 and 16, text 222 and 222a (Vardanes 1, 41/42-45 A.D.).
34. S. Yeivin, Architectural Notes 1929-30, in L. Waterman, Prelim. Report, p. 24, fig. 3.
35. Wells, Rostovstzeff and Bellinger, eds., Dura-Europos, Third Season, pl. XI, fig. 2, and pl. XII, fig. 1-2.
36. Cp. von der Osten, Art Bull., XIII, 1931, pl. p. 4, 14b and text p. 12 fig. 14a and b, where he says, "The erotic scene appears frequently on glyptic objects of this period
 		      (see L. pl. 52; 20b, 21)", that is, of the Parthian period. The seal in question both from treatment and from shape to me seems better classed as Achaemenian, and the examples quoted from Delaporte do not appear to be Parthian.
37 . Kish; Ctesiphon; Damghan.
38. Cp. the coinage of the later kings in Wroth, op. cit., and the first of the Sasanidae in Paruck, Sassanian Coinage.
39. Pl. 11, nos. 5, 6, 7; A. Furtwângler, Die antiken Gemmen, II, p. 245-46, no. 50; 1, pl., L, no. 50.

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