The Treasure Of The Oxus

In May 1880 Captain F.C. Burton, a British political officer in Afghanistan, rescued a group of merchants who had been captured by bandits while travelling between Kabul and Peshawar. With them was a rich and impressive collection of gold and silver objects dating back to the fifth and fourth centuries BC. From the banks of the River Oxus, the entire hoard was, in due course, bequeathed to the British Museum. Consisting of around 170 objects, including vessels, a gold scabbard, armlets, coins and much more, the collection is an example of ancient goldsmithery at its very best. With exciting and descriptive insight placing the treasure into historical and cultural context, this book takes a closer look at the individual wonders that make up the Oxus Treasure one of the British Museums most celebrated and cherished collections.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1905 edition. Excerpt: ... dependence and of a cosmopolitan taste always ready to assimilate the ideas of others. Now in a country where such a spirit reigned and where communications were good, we should expect to find, as at a later time in the Roman Empire, a widespread uniformity of taste and a free circulation of motives from one province to another; nor would there be much originality or variation except quite near the home of a strong indigenous art such as that of the Ionian Greeks in the west or the nomadic peoples on the frontiers of the northern Steppes. The old Persian Empire offers in many respects a rather close parallel to that of Rome, which also had a uniform and unoriginal art disseminated through provinces situated at vast distances from each other. Rome, like Persia, stood in a dependent relation to the Greeks; and in the Celts upon her northern borders she had a barbaric race with an art even more individual than that of the Scythian tribes. Just as the monuments of one Roman province are often monotonous and hardly distinguishable from those of another, so we might expect to find in different parts of ancient Persia almost identical examples of the prevalent styles of the day. Thus there is no abstract reason why such a Persepolitan or Susian type as no. 116 should not have been produced in Bactria to the order of a powerful satrap; especially as the collar, fig. 18, which, as far as its inlay is concerned, is of a class not so very inferior, bears traces of a pronounced northern (Scythic) influence. Nevertheless there are reasons which lead to the supposition that a large part at least of the Oxus Treasure was imported from the south-western provinces. In the first instance the Susa jewels so often mentioned in these pages may, with very...

Explore the ancient world with this fascinating book about the treasures of the Oxus, bequeathed to the British Museum by Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks. This book features stunning photographs and detailed descriptions of these priceless treasures, shedding light on the art and culture of ancient Persia and India. Written by the British Museum, Ormonde Maddock Dalton, and Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks, this book is a must-have for anyone interested in the ancient world. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.