Four Achaemenid Gold Ornaments

These magnificent gold ornament constitute a remarkable example of small-scale art of the Achaemenid court. The Achaemenid Empire (c. 550–330 BCE) was founded by Cyrus the Great and by embracing various civilizations became the largest empire in ancient history, spanning during its maximum extend from the Balkans and Eastern Europe to the Indus Valley. It was an empire evidently progressive for its time, by adopting the hugely successful model of a centralised bureaucratic administration and by including a government working to the profit of its subjects, it progressively built an organised and efficient infrastructure which included the creation of a postal system, the construction of highways, the use of an official language across its territories and the employment of civil servants and of a large professional army.