Images

This is the central roundel of a 4th century CE mosaic floor from a villa at Hinton St. Mary, Dorset. It is one of the most important early Christian remains from the Roman Empire. The roundel is probably the earliest known mosaic picture...

The bowl with its dropped horizontal rim and niello decoration is the earliest vessel in the Mildenhall treasure made in Gaul in the 3rd century CE. It was not designed to have a lid. The deep-domed cover with a border of Bacchic ornament...

The most famous object in the Mildenhall treasure is the large, highly decorated circular platter, usually known as the Great Dish, or as the Neptune or Oceanus Dish. Bacchic imagery has a long history in Greek and Roman art, and this example...

This small dish or platter (one of a pair) with a Bacchic scene is closely related in style and subject to the Mildenhall Great Dish itself. Both show Maenads (female followers of Bacchus) dancing and playing musical instruments, in one case...

A detail of a mosaic depicting the signs of the zodiac. From a 6th century CE synagogue at Beth Alpha, Jezreel Valley, northern Israel.

A Phoenician carved scarab seal (sard and gold) depicting the hawk of Horus holding an ankh and a feather of Maat. 750-500 BCE. (British Museum, London)

Image from a Japanese scroll which describes the realm of the hungry ghosts and how to placate them. Currently housed at the Kyoto National Museum, artist unknown.

As part of the Hungry Ghosts Festival, incense is burned in front of homes in remembrance of one's ancestors and to give a pleasing scent to the spirits as they walk by.

Celebrations of the Ghost Festival include public altars and parades where food is thrown into the air. The ghosts are thought to be hungry and so food is provided for them in homes and also in public places. Altars of fresh fruit and sweet...

In China gods (menshen) were often painted on either side of a doorway to guard against evil demons or ghosts.