Images

Alabaster vase in the shape of a standing woman with ample proportions. She has a sweeping hair and holds flowers. Late Babylonian Period, 700-600 BCE. From Sippar (modern-day Tell Abu Habbah), Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq. (The British Museum...

This gypsum wall relief depicts a Lahmu; a human figure representing a minor deity. This Lahmu, holding a long and bladed lance guards gates. He has a striking long curly beard and hair. He is bare-footed and wears a short kilt with tassels...

This gypsum wall relief depicts a standing lion-headed man holding a dagger, looking to the right. This is "the Great Lion" or "Ugallu". Layard found it in two fragments, among the so-called "Gallery XLIX (O); the long gallery" at the South-West...

This kudduru (boundary stone) is a document which records the services of Ritti-Marduk, commander of the chariots, in a royal military campaign against Elam in southern Iran. As a reward, his ancestral territory was made exempt from taxation...

On this clay tablet, the author has listed the titles of cuneiform omen collections drawn from celestial and terrestrial phenomena. Rather unusually, he explains that the validity of an individual omen depends on the particular month and...

This gypsum wall relief was part of a corner panel. It depicts Assyrian soldiers with horses crossing a mountainous area. The wavy lines and spirals at the bottom of the scene represent a river. The cuneiform inscriptions on the reverse refer...

This boundary stone, or kudurru, records a gift of land made by Eanna-shum-iddina, governor of the Sea-Land in Southern Babylonia. The receiver's name is Gula-Eresh. The text ends with a series of curses on anyone questioning the gift or...

A gold pendant earring in the form of a boat from Tarentum (Taranto), southern Italy. 4th century BCE. (Archaeological Museum of Taranto, Italy)

A gold diadem with carnelian and garnets from Canosa, Bari, southern Italy. 3rd-2nd century BCE. (Archaeological Museum of Taranto, Italy)

A gold and carnelian ring incised with an elephant holding a goad in its trunk. From Tarentum (Taranto), southern Italy. 1st century BCE. (Archaeological Museum of Taranto, Italy)