The ancient Greeks wrote extensively about their distaste for the opulence of the Persians of the Achemenid empire. However, archaeological evidence suggests that the Athenians were not themselves immune from luxury and even incorporated modes of Eastern opulence within their own cultural repertoire.
Luxuriously illustrated itself, Luxury and Power: Persia to Greece, published to accompany an upcoming exhibition at the British Museum, examines the relationship between luxury and power in Ancient Persia and its perception among Athenians. It provides a stylistic analysis of Greek art that demonstrates Athenian adoption of Persian symbols and motifs. The book also examines the hybridization of new stylistic forms that emerged throughout the Macedonian empire following the death of Alexander the Great, the legendary unifier of East and West.
The book opens with “The Art of Being Persian: Luxury at the Achaemenid Court” by Lloyd Llewellyn Jones (author of the recent Persians: The Age of the Great Kings). His essay examines the power of the Persian King and the organization of the Achaemenid empire, in detail. It features images of the King’s power and divine rule on relief sculpture at Persepolis as well as objects that exhibit Persian luxury as a manifestation of power. He explains that
as military success translated into territorial success, so too, by extension, more power invariably translated into more conspicuous displays of wealth. Luxury became the physical manifestation of the Persian king’s power. But luxury must not be considered a mere frippery, the trappings of excess, for, in the Persian world, luxury goods, a sumptuous lifestyle and the ability to enjoy extended periods of recreation were articulations of what we might now call ‘soft power’.

This is followed by “Classical Athens and the Luxury Problem” by James Fraser, which examines how Achaemenid court-style luxuries were received in Greece and particularly Athens in the years of democracy. A well-illustrated example in this chapter is the appearance of the parasol in Greek art. A symbol, long associated with the Achaemenid king; begins to appear on Greek pottery in 5th BCE. In Ancient Persia, the parasol was often held by a male courtier, but in Greek pottery it emerges as a status symbol of elite women surrounded by a retinue of female servants.
“Power, Prestige and Luxury in the Age of Alexander”, written by Henry Cosmo Bishop Wright, explores how styles of luxury changed within the new Hellenistic world order of Alexander the Great. As Alexander embraced Achaemenid court styles of luxury, he created a new kind of rule that was neither Western not Eastern but a fusion of both:
Within this increasingly multicultural world, material styles were hybridized and modified by skilled artisans who, driven by elite competition, produced some of the finest luxuries from the ancient world.

Also featured is the extraordinary Panagyurishte Treasure, on loan from the National Museum of History, Bulgaria. Buried around 300 BC, in ancient Thrace an area that had witnessed alternate Greek and Persian rule, the vessels exhibit Achaemenid Persian and Greek forms, illustrating the influences and changes in power that shaped Thrace around 350 BC. Thrace was part of Philip II of Macedon’s empire and was then beset by internal rivalries following the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC.
Overall, the book emphasizes that luxury and power associated with the ancient Persian Achaemenid court, eventually made appearances in finely crafted as well as everyday objects for Greek consumption in Athens. Luxury and Power challenges the Western narrative that presents Persian rulers as opulent despots and instead invokes archaeology, architecture, and literature to demonstrate that the Greeks both appreciated and adapted Persian modes of luxury and power into their own repertoire. East was, it seems, never East, nor was West West, and the twain did indeed meet.
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