1. Discover
  2. The Achaemenid Empire, 550-330 BC
  3. The Achaemenid Empire: An Introduction

Silver and gold phiale from the Lydian Treasure

Related sources

Image for Silver phiale with inscription of Artaxerxes I (BM)
Image for Silver Phiale 1
Image for T25: Gold double-daric, “King with bow and spear”. Carradice Type 3. [Obverse]
Image for T21: Silver siglos, “King with bow and dagger” Carradice Type 4.
Image for Behistun relief and inscription
Image for Bowl 1
Image for sealimpression1
Image for Silver bowl with gold appliqués (BM)
Commentary
Silver and gold phiale from the Lydian Treasure

Accession Number: 1.29.96
Collection: Uşak, Archaeological Museum

This elaborate silver and gold phiale was discovered in the Ikiztepe Tumulus (I. Özgen & J. Öztürk, Heritage Recovered: The Lydian Treasure (1996), p. 87 no.33). The appliqué technique is particularly well executed and might be compared with e.g. the silver bowl with gold appliqués in the British Museum. The figure represented in the gold appliqués is either the Persian king or a generic "royal hero" (see the artefact page on the Sardis exhibition website for more). Note also the double animal protome on which the figure stands, a highly characteristic Achaemenid motif, found e.g. on column capitals at Persepolis. 

Shallow phialai are a characteristic Achaemenid type of drinking-vessel; see E. Dusinberre, Empire, Authority and Autonomy in Achaemenid Anatolia (2013), 128-40.