A glimpse of the past

Conjuring up the ruined splendour of the Persian empire is an awesome task. At the height of its power around 450BC, it extended over three million square miles, drawing in disparate peoples and cultures from North Africa to the Indus Valley.

This impressive exhibition is crammed with exquisite loans from The National Museum of Iran and the Louvre, as well as items from the British Museum's own vaults. A carved stone tableau hints at the giddying scale of the royal palaces, horn-shaped gold goblets suggest immense riches, and royal seals allude to the complex system of devolved government that made this the world's first modern empire.

The exhibition's message is embodied in the Cyrus Cylinder. A stone lozenge inscribed with cuneiform script, it's held to be the first bill of human rights, declaring deported peoples free to return home and insisting on religious tolerance. This sumptuous show is full of images of might, but it's mercy that underpins them.

(020 7323 8181). Fri 9 Sept-Sun 8 Jan.