How the Greco-Persian Wars changed the way Athenians drank their wine | Curator's Corner S8 Ep4
Jul 13, 2026
Join curator Jamie Fraser as he walks you through the Persian way of drinking wine with an Achaemenid rhyton, and how this very eastern way of drinking made it's way into the Athenian symposium (albeit in a different physical form).
AI GeneratedMay contain errors
Video Summary
AI GeneratedJamie Fraser of the British Museum examines how luxury objects in Achaemenid Persia and ancient Greece reflected opposing political ideologies. While Persians used opulent gold and silver vessels to signal absolute monarchical power, Athenians viewed such decadence as despotic, adapting luxury into communal, imaginative forms that aligned with democratic values of equality.