Images

The limestone Stela of Shamshi-Adad V. Neo-Assyrian, 815-811 BCE. The king is shown giving a gesture of blessing before five divine symbols: Anu's three-horned crown (top), a winged-disk, disk and crescent, fork, and Ishtar's 8-pointed star...

Fragment of a Neo-Assyrian clay tablet from the Library of Ashurbanipal, part of the Adapa myth, with 21 lines of inscription.

A reconstruction of a typical 6th century BCE Etruscan temple such as the Portonaccio Temple at Veii, central Italy.

A decorative end roof tile in the form of a maenad from the Etruscan Portonaccio Temple at Veii, central Italy. 510 BCE. (National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia, Rome)

A bucchero ware box with ram and bull decoration. Etruscan, 4th century BCE. (Museo Gregoriano Etrusco, Vatican Museums, Rome)

A bucchero mixing bowl or krater. Etruscan, 550 BCE. Height: 27 cm. The rim is decorated with six female heads while the main body has lions and sirens. (Metropolitan Museum of art, New York)

A bucchero jug or oinochoe. Etruscan, 580-560 BCE. From Tarquinia, central Italy. Height: 40 cm. (British Museum, London)

A dinner serving set in bucchero ware. Etruscan from Chiusi, Italy. 550-500 BCE (Art Institute of Chicago)

A gold fibula decorated with five lions (upper portion) and 50 ducks (lower portion) from the Etruscan Regoliini-Galassi Tomb at Cerveteri. 7th century BCE. (Museo Gregoriano Etrusco, Vatican Museums, Rome)

An example of the square stone tombs at the cemetery of Banditaccia at the Etruscan site of Cerveteri. The tombs were laid out in rows with streets between them. Mid-6th century BCE.