Images

Painted limestone relief, possibly depicting Akhenaten and Nefertiti, from Amarna, 18th Dynasty, c. 1335 BCE. Neues Museum, Berlin.

This votive stone mace head was polished and incised with four lines of cuneiform inscriptions. It was a dedication to the god Igalim by Gudea, ruler of Lagash. Lagash II period, c. 2150 BCE. From Lagash, Southern Mesopotamia, modern-day...

This clay tablet preserves a copy of a royal inscription of king Hammurabi of Babylon (reigned 1792-1750 BCE; Old Babylonian Period), which had been found in an ancient temple. The writer has attempted to imitate the original script, and...

A close-up image of a red sandstone stela depicting the Assyrian King Ashurbanipal II. The king holds a ritual basket of earth on his head (not shown here) for the rebuilding of E-Zida temple. Neo-Assyrian Period, 668-655 BCE. From the temple...

Detail of a gypsum wall relief showing the Assyrian king Tiglath Pileser III from the South-West palace at Nimrud, Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq, Neo-Assyrian Empire, 745-727 BCE. The king is recognizable by his long beard, royal head...

Detail of a gypsum wall relief showing the Assyrian King Sargon II. Neo-Assyrian Period, 710-705 BCE. From the palace of Sargon II at Khorsabad, Mesopotamia, Modern-day Iraq. (The British Museum, London).

Detail of a gypsum wall relief showing an Assyrian Official wearing a diadem, possibly Sennacherib, the crown prince, who faces Sargon II, his father (not shown here). Neo-Assyrian Period, 710-705 BCE. From the palace of Sargon II at Khorsabad...

Relief of Horemheb Quartzite, Heliopolis, New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty. Photo taken at the King Tut Exhibit, Seattle, 2012.

Northern Palace at Amarna. The royal family lived in apartments to the rear of the palace. The palace had no roof as a gesture of welcome to Aten.

Akhenaten and the royal family blessed by Aten, limestone relief from Tell el-Amarna, New Kingdom of Egypt, c. 1350 BCE. Egyptian Museum, Berlin.