A History of the World in 100 Objects: Episode 34 - Chinese Han lacquer cup

In our less confident times, a new ruler could find lots of literature on just this subject, and one best-seller has become so famous that its title has entered the language: 'How to Win Friends and Influence People' has sold over 15 million copies, telling us all how to do exactly what it says on the cover. But, strangely, nowhere in that book does it mention one very obvious strategy that the power-brokers in Imperial China of two thousand years ago knew very well, and practised brilliantly: don't just 'say' encouraging things; 'give' your target a hugely extravagant present.

...The Chinese still know that the best gifts are always the ones that only the giver can command. In the time of the Han Dynasty, that was silk and lacquer cups. Today, when China wants to establish friendly relations, it still gives the present that nobody else can match - it's known as Panda Diplomacy.

Source: BBC A History of the World in 100 Objects

A History of the World in 100 Objects: Episode 33 - Rosetta Stone

But, as so often in the British Museum, appearances are deceiving......

Over two thousand years ago, from the Mediterranean and the Middle East to India and China, these leaders found different ways of physically projecting their power and their authority. Today's programme is particularly fascinating though, because it's a special case. It's about a ruler who is not strong but weak, a king who has to bargain for and protect his power by borrowing the invincible strength of the gods or, more precisely, the priests.......

The Rosetta Stone was made in 196 BC, on the first anniversary of the coronation of Ptolemy V, by then a teenager. It's a decree issued by Egyptian priests, ostensibly to mark the coronation and to declare Ptolemy's new status as a living god - divinity went with the job of being a pharaoh. The priests had given Ptolemy a full Egyptian coronation at the sacred city of Memphis, and this greatly strengthened his position as the rightful ruler of Egypt. But there was a trade-off. Ptolemy may have become a god, but to get there he'd had to negotiate some very unheavenly politics with his extremely powerful Egyptian priests.......

Source: BBC Episode 33 - Rosetta Stone

A History of the World in 100 Objects: Episode 28 - Basse Yutz Flagons

A feast with these flagons at the centre would leave the visitors to these new rulers in no doubt at all that the people they were visiting were sophisticated, international, cosmopolitan and rich.

Source: Basse Yutz Flagons