Tiny seal from Persepolis holds a clear image of Achaemenid naval power

During the 1936 excavations at Persepolis led by Erich Schmidt of the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute, a small clay seal impression was recovered from the Treasury. Barely 2.5 centimeters across, it bears the crisp image of a warship, a rare and direct glimpse of how the Achaemenid court viewed its own naval strength.