Images

An Etruscan bronze mirror back showing the abduction of Miacuch by Hercules. 500-475 BCE. (British Museum, London)

An Etruscan bronze mirror with an engraved scene depicting the gods Laran (Mars), Turan (Venus) Menrva (Minerva) and Aplu (Apollo) - all indicated by the inscription around the edge. 300-270 BCE. (National Etruscan Museum, Rome)

An Etruscan bronze mirror with an engraved scene depicting a nymph and Silenus. 500 BCE. (National Etruscan Museum, Rome)

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)