The first known written reference to the Medes is in an inscription of 837 BC about the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III. Two centuries later, at the height of their power, their culture and arts flourished in the lands of the Zagros. By the 6th century the Medes and the Persians had merged to create the great empire of the Achaemenids.During periods of invasion by the Assyrians, treasures from the Median royal households would be concealed in rock caves, and it was in the walls of one of these caves near Khorramabad, in the Zagros, that in the 1930s Dr. Benjamin Mahbouian discovered finely worked silver objects: vases and bowls of hammered silver, chased and punched and ornamented with flowers; pouring vessels, sprinklers and torcs decorated with animals -- ibex, rams" or lion heads; rhytons incorporating rams" heads; and goblets and ewers.The exquisite treasures from the 10th to 6th centuries BC are lavishly reproduced in the color plates of this book. The introductory text, covering the history, culture and religion of the Medes, provides a background to their art.