Images

A ceramic representation of the Punic goddess Tanit. From the necropolis of Elvissa, Ibiza. 5th-3rd century BCE. (Museu d'Arqueología de Catalunya, Barcelona)

An illustration of a sarcophagus lid from Carthage depicting a priestess of Isis. (Carthage National Museum, Byrsa, Tunisia)

The Shore Temple of Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, India. Built between 700 and 728 CE during the reign of Narasimhavarman II, it is a remnant of a larger complex of temples and civil structures much of which lie under the depth of the sea now.

The Neolithic Lia Fail (Stone of Destiny), Hill of Tara, County Meath, Ireland, by which the ancient kings were inaugurated.

Head of Lysimachus (?). Early Hellenistic, ca. 300 BC. Museum of Ephesus, Turkey.

A Roman period marble head of the two-faced Roman god of gates and beginnings Janus. (Vatican Museums, Rome)

A Roman period marble statue of Attis performing a dance of the Cybele cult. Attis was a Roman and Phrygian god, consort of Cybele, the nature and fertility goddess. (Vatican Museums, Rome)

A 17th-century CE oil painting depicting the meeting of Spanish Conquistador Hernán Cortés and Aztec ruler Montezuma (Motecuhzoma II) in 1519 CE. (Jay I. Kislak Collection)

A 17th-century CE oil painting depicting the Spanish Conquistadores led by Hernán Cortés besieging the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan in 1519 CE. (Jay I. Kislak Collection)

A 19th century CE engraving of Spanish Conquistador Hernán Cortés (1485–1547 CE) conqueror of the Aztec Empire in the early 16th century CE. (Book of America, R. Cronau)