Exhibition on luxury and power at the British Museum

This exhibition opens on the British Museum on Could 4 and runs till August 13, tickets obtainable they are here.

Throughout the Greco-Persian Wars (499-449 BC), when Greek troopers captured the Persian ruler’s royal command tent, they have been surprised by the unimaginable luxurious they encountered. In response to some historical Greek writers, the success of the comparatively small Greek armies in opposition to the mighty Persians represented a victory for order and self-control over an empire crippled by collapse and extremism. The traditional Greek victory over the Persians was made attainable by a mix of superior technique and ways. The Greeks have been a really small inhabitants and proportionally had a a lot smaller army funds than their Persian enemies. The traditional Greeks have been extra disciplined of their victory over the Persian Empire as a result of they adopted normal guidelines of engagement that emphasised self-preservation and mutual destruction.

This present goes past the traditional Greek gloss to look at the extra advanced historical past of luxurious as a political instrument within the Center East and Southeast Europe from 550 to 30 BC. the Greek one.

Iran’s Achaemenid royal court docket used treasured items as emblems of authority, creating a mode of luxurious that resonated all through the empire from Egypt to India. This text examines how oriental luxuries have been welcomed in early democratic Athens, which referred to as itself Iran’s archenemy, and the way it was creatively altered to make it socially and politically acceptable.

This research focuses on Iran’s luxurious items and examines how Alexander the Nice was capable of overthrow the Persian empire and provoke the Hellenistic interval. Throughout this era, the rising interconnectedness of the world led to a mix of Jap and Western approaches to wealth.

The exhibition brings collectively exquisitely crafted works of gold, silver and glass, together with the unimaginable Panagyurishte Treasure from Bulgaria, with excellent artifacts and borrowings from the British Museum’s assortment. The Panagyurishte Treasure is among the many displays.

The great thing about these Persian, Greek, and Hellenistic luxuries It formed the political panorama of Europe and Asia within the first millennium BC. our perspective in the direction of luxurious immediately.

(5 visited, 5 visits immediately)