Gold, Silver and Glass: Power Networks, Cultural Identities, Technology Transfers and Agency across the Old World (7th Century BC – 1st Century AD)

This volume explores how precious materials shaped power, identity and cultural exchange in the ancient world from the 7th century BC to early Roman times. Growing out of the British Museum special exhibition Luxury and Power: Persia to Greece, it brings together new perspectives on technology, value and artistic interaction from Greece to China.

Gold, Silver and Glass takes an innovative approach to our understanding of cultural interaction in antiquity. It contains 14 papers arising from an international conference held at the British Museum in June 2023 and associated with the special exhibition Luxury and Power: Persia to Greece. The papers are by invited specialists ranging from the UK, America, France and Greece to Ukraine, Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, China and Japan. They are divided into two parts, focused on cultural and technological interactions respectively. The first examines definitions of Greek and Eurasian culture, challenges perceptions and creates new avenues of research. The second looks critically at issues of metrology and value of silver in antiquity, and presents case-studies containing new scientific analyses of Achaemenid, Saka and Chinese gold and silverwares, and gold-leaf glass.

List of Figures and Tables

Introduction – St John Simpson

Acknowledgements

Did Buddhist Concepts Reach Iron Age Scandinavia? The Gundestrup Cauldron, the 14-Spoked Wheel and the ‘Axial Age’ – Timothy Taylor

The Persian Parthenon – Thomas Harrison

Persian and Greek Arts in the World of the Scythian Warriors of Asia: from Monuments to Bodies, the Choice of the Nomads – Henri-Paul Francfort

On the Problem of the Artistic and Manufacturing Centres in the Eurasian Nomadic World – Elena Korolkova

Dragons in the Scythian Fantastic Bestiary – Sergey Polin and Marina Daragan

Objects Made from Human Crania in Scythian Burials in the Northern Black Sea Region – Marina Daragan and Sergei Polin

Ancient Armenia: Historical and Cultural Connections Based on the Collections in the History Museum of Armenia – Nzhdeh Yeranyan, Ruben Vardanyan, Armine Zohrabyan, Hasmik Margaryan

Persian Gold – Jack Ogden

Metrology 40 years on – M. Vickers

Achaemenid Silver: An Essay on the Fungibility of Meaning – Henry P. Colburn

An Achaemenid Silver ‘Rattling Bowl’ – Julien Cuny, Benoît Mille, Agnès Lattuati-Derieux

Achaemenid-Style Silverware and Gold Ornaments: a Taste for Luxury in Early Imperial China – Yan Liu

Money Talks, Wealth Whispers: Iron Age Saka Microbead Goldsmithing Technology – Saltanat Amir, Rinat Zhumatayev, Samat Shakenov, Akbar Yergabylov, Rebecca Roberts, Marcos Martinón-Torres

Transparent Glass for an Elite Greek Society – Despina Ignatiadou

Cut Gold Leaf Decoration on Hellenistic–Early Roman Glass and Marble Antiquities:a Comparison with the Kirikane Cut Gold Leaf Technique of Far Eastern Buddhist Art – Yasuko Fujii and Hidetoshi Namiki

Conclusions – St John Simpson

The Contributors

Bibliography

Index

St John Simpson is a senior curator and Assistant Keeper in the Department of the Middle East at the British Museum where he is responsible for the collections from ancient Iran, Arabia and Central Asia, with Museum-wide responsibility for liaison with law enforcement agencies over the identification and repatriation of trafficked antiquities. He has curated three major special exhibitions: Queen of Sheba: Treasures from Ancient Yemen (2002), Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient World (2011), and Scythians: Warriors of Ancient Siberia (2017/18), as well as countless small displays and the permanent Rahim Irvani Gallery for Ancient Iran (2007). His most recent books are Masters of the Steppe: The Impact of the Scythians and Later Nomad Societies of Eurasia (2020), In Context: the Reade Festschrift (2020), Sasanian Archaeology: Settlements, Environment and Material Culture (2022), and ‘To Aleppo gone …’: Essays in honour of Jonathan N. Tubb (2023), all published with Archaeopress.

• Edited by St John Simpson