Luxury and powerAn eye opening publication that contrasts perceptions of luxurytogether with its positive and negative connotationsin imperial Persia, democratic Athens, and the Hellenistic world between 600 and 200 BCE. "Luxuriously illustrated" Asian Review of Books Luxurious objects are celebrated for their exoticism, rarity, and style, but also disparaged as indulgent, extravagant, and corrupt. The ancient origins of these attitudes emerged at the boundary