Images

A 2nd-century CE papyrus of Callimachus' Aetia. B.P. Grenfell & A.S. Hunt, The Oxyrhynchus Papyri: Part XI. (London: The Egypt Exploration Society, 1915), plate IV

Two figures carved from the rock face at the Longmen Caves, Fengxian temple near Luoyang, China. Dating to 675 CE the 17.4 metre high figures represent a Buddhist Heavenly King and demon guardian figure.

One of the most famous of all Chinese landscape paintings, 'The Emperor Ming Huang Travelling in Shu'. Painted silk, a later copy of a Tang dynasty original of the 8th century CE. (Palace Museum, Taipei)

A 7th century CE court scene showing Emperor Taizong (r. 626-649 CE) receiving a Tibetan ambassador. By the famed Tang dynasty court painter Yan Liben (c. 600-673 CE).

An 8th century CE portrait of the 3rd-2nd century BCE Confucian scholar Fu Sheng by the famed Tang dynasty portrait painter and poet Wang Wei (699-759 CE). (Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts, Japan)

Built in in Ionic style around 77 CE, the Temple of Garni is the masterpiece of King Tiridates I of Armenia (r. 52-58, 62-88 CE). It remains a potent symbol of Armenia's deep historic ties to the classical civilizations of Greece and Rome.

A map indicating the extent of the Tang empire (618-907 CE) and its neighbouring states and tribes people.

A mid-9th century CE portrait of Chinese emperor Wuzong of Tang (r. 840-846 CE).

Silver denarius depicting Victory on one side and a Roman legionary standard topped with an eagle on the other. Minted in Massalia, 82 BCE.

A portrait of Chinese emperor Gaozu, founder of the Tang Dynasty, r. 618-626 CE.