1-153-060 - Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images

Gold model chariot from the Oxus treasure, Achaemenid Persian, 5th-4th century BC. This remarkable model is one of the most outstanding pieces in the Oxus treasure, which dates mainly from the fifth and fourth centuries BC, and is the most important surviving collection of gold and silver to have survived from the Achaemenid period. The model chariot is pulled by four horses or ponies. In it are two figures wearing Median dress. The Medes were from Iran, the centre of the Achaemenid empire. The front of the chariot is decorated with the Egyptian dwarf-god Bes, a popular protective deity.