Glossary

Bactria — a northern province of Afghanistan

Bronze Age — the era after the Stone Age and before the Iron Age (the Bronze Age objects in this exhibition are from about 2,000 BC or 4,000 years ago).

Caravanserai — roadside inn

Gengis Khan (AD 1162 – 1227) — founder of the Mongol Empire

Hellenic — relating to or characteristic of the classical Greek civilisation

Hellenistic — relating to the high point of Greek influence in the ancient world from 323 BC to 30 BC

Marco Polo (AD 1254-1324) — an adventurous Italian traveller

Mesopotamia – an ancient region in the area now known as Iraq

Mongol — a person from Mongolia

The Great Game – a term used to describe the conflict between the British and Russian Empires in the 19th and early 20th century, when they competed for territory in central Asia.

The Indus Valley — an area named for the river that flows through it, from Tibet through Kashmir and Pakistan

Turkic — relating to or denoting a large group of closely related languages of western Asia, including Turkish

Ur — an ancient Sumerian city located in what is now southern Iraq, which flourished between 2,025 BC and 1,738 BC

Zoroaster (628 – 551 BC) — a Persian prophet also known as Zarathustra, who founded Zoroastrianism