Drinking horn (rhyton) in the form of a stag (detail), 100-1 B.C., Near Eastern (Parthian). Gilt silver, garnet, glass. Getty Museum

Royal Banqueting in Ancient Persia

GETTY VILLA

Auditorium


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Ritual banquets were a central practice among the kings and aristocrats of ancient Persia. At these events, wine flowed freely from ornate gold and silver vessels. These were not simply luxury utensils; they served as instruments of ritual and statecraft that signaled their owners' power, status, and social identity. Learn from a panel of experts about the cultural significance of elite Persian banqueting in antiquity and the sumptuous objects that adorned their tables.

This program complements the exhibition Persia: Ancient Iran and the Classical World, on view through August 8, 2022.

Speakers:
Elspeth Dusinberre is Professor of Distinction and President's Teaching Scholar in Classics at the University of Colorado Boulder. She focuses on cultural interactions in Anatolia, with an emphasis on the history of the Achaemenid Persian Empire (550–330 BCE).

Henry Colburn, adjunct assistant professor at New York University, is an archaeologist, art historian and museum curator specializing in the art and archaeology of the ancient world, especially Iran and neighboring regions prior to the advent of Islam.

Layah Ziaii-Bigdeli is a PhD candidate in art history at the University of California, Irvine with a specialization in ancient Iran and premodern Persia. She is completing her dissertation on elite cultural identity in the Late Antique and early Islamic Iranian world (3rd–10th century CE).

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