For more than a millennium, from around 550 B.C.E. to 650 C.E., ancient Greece and later also Rome had a tumultuous relationship with their neighbors to the east: the Medes, Persians, Parthians, and Sasanians of ancient Iran. Although they were sometimes at peace or even united against common enemies, more often than not these major powers were in conflict with each other. The Getty exhibit Persia: Ancient Iran and the Classical World explores the artistic and cultural connections between these rival powers through artifacts and documents. With Iran as its heartland, the Persian empire once stretched from the Aegean […]
