Rock Art: Did you mean...?

Like many great civilisations, the origins of the Chola, a Tamil Hindu dynasty in southern India, are shrouded in the temporal mists of uncertainty and obscurity. It is however known that they were influential from at least the 3rd century...

The art of the Han dynasty (206 BCE - 220 CE) of ancient China is characterised by a new desire to represent everyday life and the stories from history and mythology familiar to all. The arts were fuelled both by a political stability with...

Medievalists retain misconceptions and myths about Oriental Christians. Indeed, the fact that the Middle East is the birthplace of Christianity is an afterthought for many. During the Middle Ages, Christians from different creeds and confessions...

Mosque of the Dome of the Rock (Qubbat al-Sakhra) located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It was erected by the Muslim caliph Abd el-Malik in 688-691 CE but Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566 CE) was responsible for the mosque’s renovation...

Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, originally constructed in 691-692 CE in the reign of Caliph Abd al-Malik.

The Zen rock garden of Ryoanji temple, Kyoto, Japan. The garden dates to c. 1500 CE but the exact significance of its 15 stones is unknown except that they are designed to promote meditation.

Sioux: Black Rock with family, painting by George Catlin, 1854. Ethnological Museum, Berlin.

Spider Rock, Canyon de Chelly, Arizona, USA. The canyon boasts 5,000 years of habitation, including the Ancestral Pueblan Culture from c. 700 CE.

Early medieval Irish book art is both beautiful and fascinating. It reflects a flourishing monastic culture which played a key role in the cultural development of Europe from the 6th to 9th centuries CE. Nowhere is this more clearly illustrated...

Of all the pharaohs who ruled ancient Egypt, there is one in particular that stands out from the rest. Over the course of his 17-year reign (1353-1336 BCE), Akhenaten spearheaded a cultural, religious, and artistic revolution that rattled...