At the weekend I decided to visit an exhibition at the British Museum: Luxury and Power: Persia to Greece. The exhibition explores the ancient rivalry between Persia and Greece, and how the Greek view of a decadent Persian empire weakened by excess endured to this day. It suggests that the real situation was more complex, through an examination of material history taken from both empires.
Greek soldiers captured the royal command tent of the Persian king during the Greco-Persian Wars (499-449 BC) and were astounded by the luxury on display. The exhibition examines how luxury functioned as a political tool in the Middle East and nearby.
The concept of the exhibition is summed up at its very start. We see a pair of sculpted heads facing each other, one an ancient Persian with a beard and ringlets, the other the Greek god Apollo. However, both of these figures come from 5th century BC Cyprus, from sanctuaries where both Apollo and the Persian god Reshef were worshipped.
The royal Achaemenid court of Persia made use of precious objects to display authority. Rhytons – large, luxurious drinking cups – are perfect examples of these. Made of gold or silver, these huge cups feature portraits of humans, bulls and griffins. Later in the exhibition, we see how early democratic Athens adapted these to make them more palatable to a Greek audience. These new-style rhytons were made of clay, not gold or silver – which were considered ostentatious – and painted red, white and black. One drinking cup in particular does reinforce the idea that Greeks viewed Persians negatively: the cup is in the shape of a cariacature of a Persian. One can imagine a grinning Greek cheerfully toasting a Persian defeat from this mug.
The Persian empire was finally defeated by Alexander the Great, ensuring the domination of Hellenistic culture and tradition which fused eastern and western styles of luxury. Alexander burned the Persian capital Persepolis, and created a new Greek empire. Objects from the Panagyurishte Treasure, beautiful Thracian objects lent by Bulgaria’s National Museum of History, round off the exhibition. A true fusion of cultures, they combine Greek and Persian themes: a golden cup with bull faces features gods and demigods, while another cup shaped like a Greek amphora features two dancing centuars as handles.
This exhibition was a visual treat and definitely extended my understanding of this period of ancient history. It is well worth a visit.