Images

The bottle is completely intact and has a rough glaze. From Babylon, Mesopotamia, Iraq. Neo-Babylonian period, 626-539 BCE. (The British Museum, London)

The Aramaic inscription on this limestone bust of a woman reads "Attai daughter of El'a". The woman wears a Greek chiton, From a funerary relief at Palmyra, modern-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Circa 50-150 CE. (The British Museum, London)

Stone stela of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser I, reigned 1273-1244 BCE. The Akkadian inscription mentions how the king rebuilt one of the gateways at the city of Ashur. From Ashur, northern Mesopotamia, Iraq. Middle-Assyrian period. (The British...

The shank of this corbel is lost. Otherwise, this hand-like corbel was very exceptionally well made; the fingernails were individually well-demarcated. The cuneiform inscriptions mention the name of the Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II, reigned...

This oval stone mace-head was inscribed with the name of Anum-mutabil (formerly read as Ilum-muttabbil), governor of the Babylonian city Dur-ilu. The cuneiform inscription reads "Ilum-muttabbil, mighty man, favorite of god Istaran, beloved...

A sculpture of the Hindu sun-god Surya. The god is in a typical pose holding lotus flowers. Karnataka or Andhra Pradesh, India, c. 1100-1150 CE. (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)

The temple of Surya at Konarak (aka Konarak Sun Temple), Orissa, North-east India. It was dedicated to the Hindu sun-god Surya and has 12 pairs of wheels on its sides to imitate the god's chariot which he rides across the sky each day. Built...

A map indicating the possible route of Hanno, a Carthaginian who led a colonising and exploration expedition down the Atlantic coast of Africa in the 6th or 5th century BCE. Some scholars suggest he reached modern Sierra Leone, others that...

Alloy coin from Macedon, minted under the rule of Cassander (305-297 BCE).

A marble portrait bust of a Carthaginian woman. Carthage, 5th-2nd century BCE (?). (British Museum, London)