Achaemenid frieze
- Gallery: Room 52
- Culture: Achaemenid
- Made in: Susa
- Date: 6thC BC
- Object type: frieze
- Materials: sand; lime
- Museum number: 132525
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
This is an Achaemenid frieze from Susa, dating to the sixth century BC. Before you is a glazed brick relief panel, made from a sand and lime mixture, showing a standing archer facing right. Look closely—his elaborate robe features intricate decoration, and his shoes have long laces in three pairs. He wears gold bracelets and simple ring-shaped earrings. The figure holds a spear with a spherical ferrule resting on one foot, along with a quiver and a bow with bird-headed ends.
This panel was once part of a large frieze depicting guards believed to be the "Immortals," the legendary royal bodyguards of the Persian king. The figure is carved in low relief against a flat, light green glazed background, with vibrant details in browns, yellows, whites, and greens.
The frieze was made using separately moulded bricks. You’re looking at a piece of Persian palace art, now on permanent loan from the Louvre.
See it in person
Achaemenid frieze is on display in Room 52 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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