Images

Terracotta oil lamp from Cyprus, the first half of the 1st century CE. The discus has an engraved image of a rhinoceros tossing a large cat with its horn. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

This mosaic from the Antakya Archaeological Museum, Hatay Province, Turkey dates to the 2nd Century CE and depicts a black African fisherman.

This mosaic is from the "House of Menander" in Pompeii and depicts two African men fishing. The work dates to the 1st Century CE and is currently in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples in Italy.

This Roman quadrans was minted in the reign of Domitian sometime between 84-90 CE and features a two-horned rhinoceros on the obverse. The coin commemorates the appearance of a two-horned rhinoceros in the Colosseum for the first time, where...

This fragment from the upper right corner of a sarcophagus portrays the head of a male Aethiopian (African) youth and a maenad. The piece dates to around the early 3rd Century CE and is a part of the Roman Sarcophagi Collection at the Metropolitan...

A 19th century CE painting by Benjamin-Constant depicting the triumphant entrance of Mehmed II, Ottoman Sultan, after his successful siege of Constantinople in 1453 CE.

A 15th-century CE bronze Ottoman cannon based on the design of those used in the siege of Constantinople in 1453 CE by Mehmed II.

A fresco depicting the siege of Constantinople in the 7th century CE, although the presence of canons clearly indicate it is based on the final and fatal siege of the city in 1453 CE. From the Church of Moldovita, Romania.

A 15th century CE portrait by G. Bellini of Mehmed II (r. 1451-1481 CE), Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and conqueror of Constantinople in 1453 CE.

The Seraphim Mosaic, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul. Around the Pantocrator mosaic from the 9th century CE which was on the central dome. The "seraphim’’ are depicted in red.