The British Museum is hosting a special exhibition of Persian antiquities - Forgotten Empire. I manage to go yesterday.
I didn't think the grandeur of the Empire or the exhibits were fully realised in the cramp space allocated. It didn't help going so early in the exhibitions run (until January) as the crowds were oppressive.
There were some glorious items though; intricate gold working, a massive foot of a lion, friezes, stone heads, coins and burial trinkets. Many of the items on display have not been seen outside of Iran before. Sorry the photo is not of the best quality as the lighting was not conducive to taking pictures and you were not supposed to anyway. (But I took a couple as the security guard was diverted by another snap-happy bounder) It shows a selection of drinking vessels - Rhytons - made from solid gold.
While Western history is dominated by the squabbles of the Greeks, from a Persian viewpoint they were nothing more than a few insignificant towns perched on the edge of a massive Empire. Of course the Greeks overran the Persians for a time but their culture survived this and lasted longer than the Greeks. Fascinating stuff.
andrew -
I've never seen pics of Rhytons before - just drawings. They are amazing. How large would you say they are?
Posted by: beau | 22 September 2005 at 08:42
Hard to tell from the photo but the height is about 25cm tall if not a bit taller. The lower one has a winged lion as it base. This extend not quite as far as it is tall - at a guess 15/18cm
Posted by: Andrew | 22 September 2005 at 09:21
For my Metrically-challenged friends: 25 cm = 10" and 15cm = 6"
(I've been hearing the US will go metric since I was 8 years old!)
Posted by: beau | 22 September 2005 at 13:45