Get curated editors’ picks, peeks behind the scenes, film recommendations and more.
Fought between 499 and 449 BCE, the Greco-Persian Wars were a series of conflicts in which Greek city-states, and especially Athens, fought off the military advances of the sprawling Persian Empire. Today, it’s remembered for such storied events as the battles of Marathon (490 BCE) and Thermopylae (480 BCE). However, historical accounts of these conflicts come to us from Greek sources only, meaning they’re inevitably and unabashedly one-sided. And so, as the British Museum curator James Fraser explains in this video, by studying artefacts from this time period, historians can glean many details that the written histories lack. An accompaniment to the exhibition ‘Luxury and Power: Persia to Greece’, which is on display at the British Museum until 13 August 2023, this short features Fraser comparing wine vessels from the two warring civilisations. In doing so, he examines how, while Athens was able to repel the Persian military, the cultural impressions left by their items of ‘supreme luxury’ would leave a lasting mark.
Video by the British Museum
video
Dance and theatre
How a Noh mask-maker summons a lifelike face from a single block of wood
16 minutes
video
Art
David Goldblatt captured the contradictions of apartheid in stark black and white
15 minutes
video
Love and friendship
When drawing your muse hundreds of times becomes an exercise in love
7 minutes
video
Thinkers and theories
Is simulation theory a way to shirk responsibility for the world we’ve created?
13 minutes
video
Biology
A dazzling slice-by-slice exploration of wood exposes hidden patterns and hues
2 minutes
video
Family life
In Rwanda, Sébastien finds traces of personal history in the wake of national tragedy
21 minutes
video
Dance and theatre
Leaf through Shakespeare’s First Folio for a riveting journey into theatre history
13 minutes
video
Architecture
Modern architecture should embrace – not ignore or repel – the nonhuman world
8 minutes
video
Nations and empires
The strange tale of how mangoes became hallowed objects in Maoist China
6 minutes