The cylinder seals of the second half of the 1st millennium BC fall into the period dominated by the Achaemenid empire. They are of particular significance in glyptic art and practices, as they bring to a close the 3,000-year history of the Near Eastern cylinder seal. The British Museum's collection of seals of this period totals 92 pieces and is one of the largest outside Iran. The earliest seal was acquired in 1772 from Sir William Hamilton's collection and more than half of the others are attested before 1900. Some, such as the famous seal of Darius, are icons of the period. This volume contains chapters on the history and development of the collection, the historical background, an analytical introduction, a detailed catalogue raisonné, a copiously illustrated analytical index and a contribution by Margaret Sax on the seal materials.

This volume publishes drawings of the impressions of stamp seals preserved on Babylonian and Assyrian cuneiform tablets, and other clay objects in the collections of The British Museum. The majority of these seals bears precise dates, ranging from the 9th to the 2nd centuries B.C.; represens the Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian, Achaemenian and Hellenistic periods; and are set out in chronological order so that the changes in seal design can be clearly seen. Among the images from the Hellenistic period are representations of zodiacal signs. The volume also includes details of seal impressions on the handles of pottery jars from Palestine. Full bibliographical references to previous publications of the cuneiform texts are given, and the volume concludes with concordances and indices, including a pictorial index of all the seal images arranged typologically.