Thank you for downloading this episode of a history of the world in a hundred objects

from BBC Radio 4. This, as many of you will recognize, is the resounding opening music of the film 2001 A Space Odyssey.

Richard Strauss's symphonic poem, Thus about what Zarathustra actually did

speak or even who he was, which is perhaps surprising because Zarathustra, or as he's more widely known Zorroaster, was the founder of one of the great religions of the world.

For centuries, along with Judaism, Christianity and Islam, it was one of the four

dominant faiths of the Middle East.

It was the oldest of the four, the first of all the text-based religions and it

profoundly influenced the other three. There are still significant Zoroastrian

communities all over the world, especially in the religion's homeland,

Iran. Indeed, the Islamic Republic today guarantees

the reserved seats in its parliament for Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians. In the Iran of 2000 years ago Zoroastrianism was the state religion of what was then the Middle Eastern superpower.

My object today is a dramatic visualization of power and faith in that Iranian era. The

child is a dramatic visualization of power and faith in that Iranian Empire.

It's a silver dish from the fourth century,

and it shows the king apparently out hunting.

But in fact, he's keeping the world safe from chaos.

This is the image of what the person's called Shansas, the king of kings.

He rules because he is strong, because he is mighty,

because he is powerful.

And this was absolutely fundamental

to the way that the Persians saw the functioning of the world.

A history of the world in a hundred objects. Silver plate showing sharppur the second.

...