The British museum is exhibiting a beautiful golden plaque named: “Engraved image of a Median man with a dagger on a gold plaque”. This man engraved on the plaque is self-explanatory. This ancient heritage is one out of a collection known as “Jihun treasure”.
The treasure of Jihun contains precious artifacts from the Median and Achaemenid periods, which were found in the Kawad hill in Tajikistan and were entrusted entirely to the British antiquarians to be displayed for visitors. The golden plaque of the Medes is one of the works of the same treasure. It is considered a brilliant and rare work of art of the Medes and Achaemenians and a sign of performing a religious ceremony.
The golden plaque shows a man, from the 1st millennium BC, holding a stalk of a plant, and maybe going towards a shrine. The Median man is wearing a hat with folds at the bottom and is gazing straight ahead. The creases have given the image a vivid and outstanding look. His big eyes and profile have given him a holy look. His dress extends below the knee and is accentuated by a string belt. It is believed that his clothes are two pieces; spectacular arrays can be seen on his clothes. In the lower part of the garment is a knot of string. The skirt of a material man’s dress is also arrayed, just like the upper part of his clothing. A dagger in a sheath is tied to his waist. The way the dagger is placed is so elaborately carved that it draws the eye towards itself. His pants reach below his ankles and cover part of his shoes.
A brush plant can be seen on the Median man’s right hand. He is holding the plant like a torch, and his steps are depicted as walking slowly and carefully. The left hand of the golden image is in sync with his steps and has a forward movement. No signs or marks around the man’s body, and an empty background has formed the space around him. It looks as if the Median man doesn’t pay attention to anything except what he is doing.
Several other plaques have been found in the treasure of Amu Darya. The similarity of the figure of a Medan man with a dagger, with the clothes of some men carved in the petroglyphs of Persepolis, is undeniable. This particular clothing belonging to the Medians.
The golden figure is attributed to the fifth and fourth centuries BC when the Achaemenids spread their glorious empire worldwide. The treasure discovered in Amu Darya reveals a small part of the wealth and splendor of that all-encompassing dominion. In the second half of the 19th century, the treasure of Amu Darya and this golden plaque were found, But not by archaeologists! So maybe parts of it have been lost. What was left was sent to the British Museum. The height of this golden plaque is 15 cm, and it was first displayed in 1900 AD.
