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Danish National Museum

Even to the untutored eye, the first-century C.E. silver gilt Roman vessel shown here belongs to the same metalworking tradition as the fourth-century B.C.E. gold rhyton in the next photo. Part of the Panagyurishte Treasure now exhibited in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, the rhyton is embossed with the figures of two men engaged in a quiet conversation. The figures on the silver cup, found in a Danish chieftain’s grave in Denmark, depict a more dramatic story: The Trojan king Priam begs Achilles to return the body of his son Hector, whom Achilles has killed, for burial.