Images

A colossal marble head of Roman emperor Tiberius. From a public building in Rome, mid-1st century CE. (Vatican Museums, Rome)

A Roman marble relief depicting Mithras sacrificing a bull. From the Esquiline, Rome, date unknown. (Vatican Museums, Rome)

A marble statue of Ganymede, the Trojan prince from Greek mythology who was abducted from Mt. Ida by Zeus to become the gods' cupbearer. Found on the via Tuscolana, Rome, 2nd century CE. (Vatican Museums, Rome)

Marble head of a Galatian. Early 2nd century CE copy of an original from an altar at Pergamon to commemorate Attalus I's victory over the Galatians in 230 BCE. (Vatican Museums, Rome)

A bust of Roman emperor Septimius Severus, r. 193-211 CE. (Vatican Museums, Rome)

A bust of Roman emperor Commodus (r. 180-193 CE) as a young man. From Ostia. (Vatican Museums, Rome)

A basalt bust of Serapis, the Egyptian-Hellenistic god who was created in the reign of Ptolemy I (304-284 BCE) to create a link between the two cultures and religions of Greece and Egypt. From Rome, 2nd century CE. (Vatican Museums, Rome)

A granite statue of the Egyptian bull-god Apis. From Memphis, New Kingdom, 1550-1070 BCE. (Vatican Museums, Rome)

A seal impression of Peribsen, king in the Second Dynasty of Egypt, c. 2890 to c. 2670 BCE. British Museum, London.

An ivory lable fragment depicting the Egyptian king Den (c. 2990 BCE) who ruled during the First Dynasty. He is the first ruler to be depicted wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. Abydos, Umm el Qaab, tomb T, the Tomb of Horus...