ANOTHER REMARKABLE SEAL?

Ancient seal corroborates Bistun Inscription text (MehrNews)
TEHRAN, Jan. 12 (MNA) -- An ancient seal has been discovered by chance which confirms the information recorded in the text of the Bistun Inscription in Kermanshah Province, an expert of the Hamedan Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department announced on Wednesday.

Fariba Sharifian explained that the Iranian police recently confiscated the seal from smugglers in the town of Asadabad in Hamedan Province, adding, �It is not clear when and where the seal was unearthed, but the information and reliefs carved on it narrate significant and interesting material.�

The seal is made of green jasper, she said.

A cuneiform inscription in ancient Persian on one side of the cylindrical seal reads �Dadar Shish, Satrap of Bactria�.

[...]

The Behistun Inscription is an account by Darius I (who also is mentioned in the Bible) of his own great deeds. It mentions two people with the name D�darshi (see here and here for details), the second of whom was Satrap of Bactria. If the seal is genuine, this is an interesting confirmation of a detail in the inscription.

If it is genuine. In its favor, it was not on the antiquities market, but was seized by the authorities from smugglers. But against its authenticity, it is unprovenance; it was seized from smugglers who presumably intended to sell it; and given the enormous interest of modern Iranians in their own history, it's the sort of exciting item that a forger would have every reason to produce in the hope of making lots of money. In light of the emerging forgery scandal in Israel, I'm skeptical.

(Via Mirabilis.)