Images

Two boxers are fighting while two musicians are playing the drum and are beating clappers together. Old Babylonian Period, 2000-1600 BCE. From Larsa, Southern Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq. (The British Museum, London).

Traces of red paint can still be seen on the ears and chest of this woman. Her eyes might well have been inlaid but the eyes' irises are now lost. The woman's necklace is similar to that worn by the Queen of the Night (Burney) Relief. Old...

The preserved right hand of Saint Gregory the Illuminator (d. c. 330 CE), first bishop of the Armenian church. (Museum of the Holy See of Cilicia, Antelias, Lebanon)

A 14th century CE Byzantine mosaic of Saint Gregory the Illuminator (d. c. 330 CE), first bishop of the Armenian church. (Museum of Pammacaristos Church, Istanbul)

An illustration of Tiridates the Great (Trdat IV), king of Armenia c. 298 - c. 330 CE. (From "Illustrated Armenia and Armenians" by Gaidzakian, Ohan, 1898 CE)

Neolithic site of Msoura (also given as Mzoura) near modern-day Asilah, Morocco. The site is a ring of 168 megaliths astronomically aligned around a tumulus which, legend claims, is the tomb of the king Antaeus, best known from the Greco-Roman...

This gold toggle was found with the body of Puabi herself inside her grave, by her upper left arm. Puabi was a Semitic Akkadian woman from Ur, c. 2600 BCE, possibly a queen or priestess. The lapis lazuli head was carved, perforated, and polished...

This is a group of barrel-shaped beads of bitumen overlaid with four gold, four lapis lazuli, and two faceted cornelian beads. This jewellery was found by Puabi's thighs inside her grave, which might possibly have formed part of her belt...

The double ring is made of silver. This is surmounted by an electrum (an alloy of gold and silver) piece in the shape of a donkey or an onager. This reign ring was found fixed on the pole of a sledge, pulled by oxen, placed in Puabi's grave...

An artist's impression of ancient desert warfare in northern Africa, in this case depicting the Kushite army doing battle with the Masaesyli. The kingdom of Kush, situated in northern Africa, flourished between c. 1069 BCE and 350 CE, while...