Achaemenid relief
- Gallery: Room 52
- Culture: Achaemenid
- Made in: Persepolis
- Date: 6thC BC-5thC BC
- Object type: relief
- Materials: limestone
- Museum number: 118843
- 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
Before you is a fragment of limestone relief created in Persepolis during the Achaemenid period, around the 6th to 5th century BCE. The relief showcases part of a chariot box, with rosettes around its edges. A decorated quiver is carved on the front, while another appears on the side.
The charioteer is wearing Persian-style clothing, including ear rings and a headpiece, and holds reins guiding two horses. Above the reins is a fan-shaped yoke ornament, with a tassel hanging from the yoke. Another small fragment displays the top of the horses' manes.
This work comes from the Apadana in Persepolis, likely part of a larger scene showing a procession of guards and chariots. Part of the carving, including the horses’ heads, is now in the Miho Museum in Japan, while a facsimile reproduction from the British Museum is displayed here.
See it in person
Achaemenid relief 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.
New, in beta. British Museum support has just launched and is still improving: over 1,000 objects so far, with more added all the time.
