Images

Limestone grave-stela of a Greek woman from the Black Sea. Cape Tuzla (Taman, Russia), c. 100 BCE-100 CE. (Pushkin Museum, Moscow)

The cuneiform inscription on this block mentions king Sarduri II, son of the king Argishti I. Sarduri II was a King of Urartu and was succeeded by his son, Rusa I. From Astwadzashen, 50 kilometers southeast of Van (of eastern Turkey). c...

This limestone wall relief shows a Mede man holding a gift, which appears to be a lamb, for the king. The event is probably the Persian New Year (Newroz). From Persepolis, the stairway of the Palace of Xerxes I (485-465 BCE), modern-day Iran...

This alabaster bas-relief is part of a larger one depicting a sequence of tribute bearers. Here, this man shows a gesture of submission, reflected by his raised arms. The "Standard Inscription" of Ashurnasirpal II appears on the lower half...

This alabaster bas-relief was donated by Sir James Young (a pioneer in Gynecology and Obstetrics and former president of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh) to the Society of Antiquities in Scotland in 1865 CE. The panel depicts...

Gypsum wall relief depicting a classical Assyrian lion-hunting scene. The striking feature is that the king wears a diadem with a rosette on it, instead of the typical conical headcap of the Assyrian kings. From the North-West Palace at Nimrud...

This clay tablet is a copy of a royal inscription of Hammurabi, King of Babylon (reigned 1792-1750 BCE), which was found in an ancient temple. The writer has tried to imitate the original script and has used clay of exceptional fineness...

An inscribed cross-shaped stone, later produced to look older than it is, which lists long-running grants and privileges supposedly bestowed on the temple priesthood of the sun-god Shamash by the Akkadian king Manushtushu (reigned 2269-2255...

This is the beginning of a cuneiform inscription, which was carved on the pair of human-headed and winged bulls flanking the main entrance to the throne room of King Sennacherib. This inscription is from the area under the stomach of the...

This hymn to the goddess Ishtar is written in Sumerian; after every line in Sumerian, the text is translated in Akkadian. Such translations have been invaluable to modern scholars. They reflect how the Sumerian language had become difficult...