Images

This necklace was unearthed in what is now present-day Armenia and dates from the 15th-13th century BCE. It contains gold and other sardonyx beads. (Metsamor Historical-Archaeological Museum-Reserve, Taronik, Armenia)

This Eneolithic stone statuette of a woman is from what is present-day Armenia. It dates from the 5th-4th century BCE. (Metsamor Historical-Archaeological Museum-Reserve, Taronik, Armenia)

This clay pitcher with images of lions is made from clay. It comes from what is present-day Armenia, and it dates from the 13th century BCE. (Metsamor Historical-Archaeological Museum-Reserve, Taronik, Armenia)

Byzantine regent Theodora and her young son, the emperor Michael III (r. 842-867 CE). The icon, known as "The Triumph of Orthodoxy", dates to the early 15th century CE but is itself a copy of an older one which commemorates the restoration...

A detail of a 13th century CE illustration showing Byzantine emperor Michael III (Madrid Skylitzes, National Library, Madrid)

A 13th century CE illustration showing Byzantine emperor Michael III (r. 842-867 CE) crowning his great friend and political ally Basil the Macedonian co-emperor. The latter would take the crown himself in 867 CE as Basil I. (Madrid Sklitzes...

A gold coin depicting Byzantine empress Irene (r. 797-802 CE). (Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Rome)

This ivory plaque fragment shows Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus of Byzantium (r. 913-959 CE) being crowned by Jesus Christ. It was carved in royal workshops of Constantinople around 954 CE. (Pushkin Museum, Moscow)

This Trojan bronze idol figurine is comparable with bronze and terracotta idols of the late 3rd millennium BCE from Anataolia and also the Balkans. It shares some similarities with the small, bronze idols of the Levant and Crete, but this...

This fragment of limestone contains text in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics that was found in the pyramid of Pharaoh Pepi I Meryre (r. c. 2335–2285 BCE). (Pushkin Museum, Moscow)