The Persepolis Sculptures in the British Museum

Abstract

R.D. Barnett in his useful article Persepolis in Iraq XIX (1957) lists the fragments of relief sculpture from Persepolis in the collection of the British Museum, and seeks to identify their original locations in the palace. He indicates that most of them derive from a visit to the site by His Britannic Majesty's Ambassador at the Court of Persia, Sir Gore Ouseley, in 1811. He was accompanied on this expedition by his elder brother Sir William Ouseley, Kt (1769-1842), and by Robert Gordon. Both Sir Gore and Sir Ouseley brought away fragments of sculpture for their own private collections, and Gordon obtained pieces for his brother George Hamilton Gordon, and it is mainly these reliefs which constitute the British Museum collection. Much of this is indicated by Barnett, but there is some lack of clarity in his article about pieces came from which private collection. The main purpose of this article is to clarify these points, which bear more on ninetheen century than on ancient history, but occasion has been taken to include other data, particularly concerning the inscriptions.