Imprint:
London : The British Museum, 2023.
Collation:
240 pages : illustrations (black and white, and colour) ; 26 cm
Notes:
Published to accompany the exhibition of the same name held at The British Museum, London, 4th May-13th August, 2023.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary:
When Greek soldiers captured the royal command tent of the Persian king during the Greek-Persian Wars (499-449 BCE), they were confronted suddenly and spectacularly by luxury on an unimaginable scale. To some ancient writers, the victories of the small Greek forces against the mighty Persians were a triumph of discipline and restraint over an empire weakened by decadence and excess. Drawing on dazzling objects from Afghanistan to Cyprus, this beautifully illustrated book explores a complex story about luxury as a political tool in the Middle East and south-east Europe from 550 to 30 BCE. At the royal Achaemenid court in ancient Iran, precious objects were markers of authority, defining a style of luxury that resonated across the empire from Egypt to India. In early democratic Athens, luxuries were adapted in innovative ways to make them socially and politically acceptable. Alexander III of Macedon (Alexander The Great) would later sweep aside the Persian empire to usher in a new Hellensitic age in which eastern and western styles of luxury were fused as part of an increasingly interconnected world. Whether coveted as objects of prestige or disparaged as signs if decadence, the beauty of these exquisitly crafted Persian, Greek and Hellenistic luxuries shaped the political landscape of Europe and Asia in the first millenium BCE - and their lagecy persists in our attitudes towards luxury today.
ISBN:
9780714111964 (hbk)
Bookmark Link:
https://aberdeencity.spydus.co.uk/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/ENQ/KIDS/BIBENQ?BRN=3455934
