Images

Bust of Herodotus with an inscription of his name in Greek. Roman copy of the Imperial era (2nd century CE) after a Greek bronze original of the first half of the 4th century BCE. From Benha (ancient Athribis), Lower Egypt. (Metropolitan...

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) produced a series of ukiyo-e woodblock prints known as the 'Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji' (Fugaku Sanjurokkei). One of the set, 'Beneath the Wave off Kanagawa', is perhaps the most famous of all Japanese artworks...

The Shinto shrine of Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha, Mount Fuji. The site's most important shrine, it was first constructed in 806 CE, although by tradition, it was originally founded during the reign of Emperor Suinin (29 BCE - 70 CE) at another...

Mount Fuji (Fujisan), Honshu, Japan. The mountain is 3,776 metres high and a sacred site for followers of Shinto and some sects of Buddhism.

A wall-hanging portrait of Minamoto no Yoritomo, victor in the Genpei War (1180-1185 CE) for control of the Japanese imperial throne.

A map showing the battles of the Genpei War in Japan, 1180-1185 CE.

Toy ball made of linen, hollow, exterior elaborated with red and green segmented decoration form by strips of reed, with circular fragments of reed at either end. From Roman Egypt. British Museum, London.

Mehen, Egyptian snake game, 5th-6th Dynasty, 2575-2150 BCE. Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden.

Toy milling servant, 1300-1200 BCE, 19th Dynasty, Egypt. Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden.

A 12th century CE illustration from an edition of the Japanese classic, the 'Tale of the Genji' or Genji Monogatari, written in the 11th century CE by Murasaki Shikibu. (Tokugawa Museum in Nagoya, Japan)