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 HellenisticEarly 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.
