Bell: Did you mean...?

A red-figure bell-krater from Paestum 360-340 BCE. In a scene from Greek comedy, Dionysos is depicted with a comic actor balancing a basket on his head. The actor is in typical costume - padded stomach, added phallus and bearded mask.

A Greek "bell cuirass" from the Archaic Period, made sometime between the 7th and 6th Century BCE. This cuirass came from the Greek mainland and was the antecedent to the later and more recognizable "muscle cuirass". This breastplate is...

A bronze Japanese dotaku or ritual bell. From Nakagawa (Akugaya), Hosoe-cho, Kita-ku, Hamamatsu-shi, Shizuoka, Japan. Yayoi Period, 1st-3rd century CE. (Tokyo National Museum)

A red-figure bell krater showing a griffin or gryphon attacking Amazons. First half of 4th century BCE. Vassil Bojkov Collection. Photographer: Marin Karavelov for the Thrace Foundation

This bell has a suspension ring in the form of a fist. Bells are said to have been a Chinese invention, which reached the Middle East in about 800 BCE. However, Chinese bells are struck on the exterior while the Urartian ones have a clapper...

A bronze dotaku bell, Yayoi Period, 4th-2nd century BCE, Japan. (Tokyo National Museum)

A relaxed scene from a krater (wine-mixing vessel). Ttwo women listen while a third plays the lyre. Attributed to the Danaë Painter, c. 460 BCE. Attica, Greece. (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

This is a bowl for mixing wine and water. Greek, made in Athens around 450-440 BCE. Said to be Aegina, Greece. (The British Museum, London).

Gertrude Bell was a global adventurer, linguist, spy, archaeologist, and much more. She was responsible for defining the borders of modern-day Iraq, and founded the country's first museum. However, her own family home in Redcar has fallen...

Pubs remain a prominent feature of the rural and urban landscapes of Britain, but their names very often date back to medieval times. Red lions, white horses, and colourful characters peer from pub signs as landlords choose names to represent...