‘Discovering Ancient Afghanistan’

London’s British Museum, one of the world’s finest collections of art and cultural artifacts, offers a particularly rich choice of Middle Eastern and Islamic exhibits this fall. History and legends from Afghanistan, Yemen, Persia and other countries are highlighted.

"Illuminating World Cultures" is the museum’s motto and for nearly 250 years it has served the purpose well. Founded in 1753, the British Museum was the first public secular museum. It is in the Bloomsbury district of London and is home to the Elgin Marbles, many Egyptian antiquities, King George III’s library and many extraordinary works from virtually every age and continent.

The permanent collection contains a comprehensive Egyptian Gallery featuring granite statues of Ramses II as well as the famous Rosetta Stone. The Assyrian and Babylonian Collections transport the visitor to the royal palaces of Nineveh and Khorsabad, and the temples of Nimrud and Balawat, in the 7th and 8th centuries BC Oriental antiquities include sculptures from India while the "Lands of Islam Gallery" displays stunning examples of the decorative arts of Persia, Turkey and Mesopotamia, particularly ceramics, metalwork and silver and gold objects.

"Discovering Ancient Afghanistan" is a temporary exhibit showing archaeological finds collected by Charles Masson (1800-1853), the first Western explorer of ancient sites near Kabul and Jalalabad. Masson’s painstaking work contributed greatly to our understanding of Afghanistan’s early history, and his notes provide details of many ancient sites now lost. He surveyed or excavated more than 50 sites and amassed a huge collection of objects and coins from the plain of Bagram and Kabul. Some of the coins date from the 4th century BC and have images of the Greek successors of Alexander the Great. Coins issued by later Indo-Greek rulers bear legends in Greek and local languages, allowing scholars to decipher one previously-unknown ancient Afghan script. Masson himself was something of a mystery. While he purported to be "an American traveler," he was later discovered to be James Lewis, an English deserter from the British East India Company’s Bengal Artillery Regiment. In exchange for a royal pardon, he was obliged to serve as an intelligence agent for the British in Kabul. Masson was dismissed by many as a deserter, adventurer, and spy and until recently the enormous value of his archaeological work in Afghanistan was ignored.

Another current exhibit — "Queen of Sheba: Treasures from Ancient Yemen" — traces the legend of the fascinating queen from earliest times up into modern art and cinema. The exhibit also illustrates the magnificent ancient civilization of Yemen that prospered economically because of the incense trade. Spectacular artifacts from various museums show the practices and traditions of daily life in ancient Arabia. Precious objects from Marib, Shabwa, Tamna and other sites reveal both the originality of native artists and the influences from cultures as varied as Iran and the Roman Empire. A related exhibit, "Solomon and Sheba," includes objects from the museum’s Islamic collection relating to the story of Solomon and Sheba or to Solomon’s magical powers.

"Discovering Ancient Afghanistan" continues through Jan. 9, 2003. For more information, log on to www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk.