A Thracian gold rhyton (drinking container), part of the British Museum’s glittering new display
If the glittering artefacts of the Persian Achaemenid empire wow us today, imagine how they dazzled the ancient Greeks. That contrast between democratic Athenian discipline and Persian decadence is the launchpad for a new exhibition showcasing the luxury goods of the Middle East in the last few centuries BC, and exploring how such items were reviled then absorbed into the Hellenistic world of Alexander the Great. Bringing together spectacular gold, silver and glass objects from Europe and Asia, it also interrogates modern attitudes to luxury.