Despite the great size of the Achaemenid Empire and its wide variety of local cultural traditions and artistic forms, there is a recognisable Achaemenid style. This was probably promoted from the royal court in Iran and then sponsored by satraps (governors) and other high-ranking nobles. Some of the most distinctive elements of Achaemenid art are precious metal vessels with animal-shaped handles and the rhyton(horn-shaped drinking cup with a hole at the front) ending in an animal’s head. Gold or silver bowls were also popular, often decorated with petal shapes or fluting. The Mesopotamian cylinder seal was revived in this period for court administration, and elaborate gold jewellery took the form of bracelets, sometimes ending in the heads of animals or mythological creatures like griffins.

The most impressive art includes carved stone reliefs that decorated the royal buildings in the empire’s capital city of Persepolis. These show tributaries from different parts of the empire processing towards the enthroned king or supporting the king’s throne. Many of the surviving types of Achaemenid vessels and jewellery are shown on the reliefs being brought as gifts for the king. The reliefs give a simultaneous picture of a harmonious empire supported by its numerous peoples, or of the king at the centre of an empire binding together a wide range of very different peoples.