Images

Map of China showing the Wu Zetian's empire c. 700 CE.

Wu Zetian's (r. 683-704 CE) Stele at Quianling Mausoleum where she was buried along with her husband Gaozong.

Overview of the ruins of Baelo Claudia lying along the beach of Bolonia in southern Spain. The town was founded in the end of the 2nd century BCE.

The Roman theatre of Acinipo in southern Spain (Roman province of Hispania Baetica), built in the middle of the 1st century BCE. It is one of the most ancient Roman theatres in Spain.

Mosaic with the Cyclops Polyphemus and the nymph of the sea Galatea, discovered in 1959 during excavation work under the Plaza de la Corredera in Cordoba, Spain. The mosaic dates to the 2nd century CE. Salón de los Mosaicos (Hall of Mosaics...

The Basilica at Baelo Claudia in Southern Spain, built around 50-60 CE to the South of the Forum of the city. It was a two-storey building built of ashlar and concrete walls covered in stucco. The city erected a colossal statue of Trajan.

An 18th century CE idealised portrait of the last Inca ruler Atahualpa, r. 1532-1533 CE. (Brooklyn Museum, New York)

Black-and-white mosaic with an elephant in the Piazzale delle Corporazioni (Square of the Corporations) at Ostia Antica, Italy. The inscription as well as the elephant show that merchants from Sabrata (Libya) traded in wild animals and/or...

Detail of the "Pashley Sarcophagus", a Roman sarcophagus with a relief showing the triumphal return of Dionysos from India, circa 125-150 CE, found in Arvi (Crete). Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (UK).

Detail of a 6th-century mosaic floor that used to decorate the pavement of the peristyle court of the Palatium Magnum, the Great Palace of Constantinople. The Great Palace Mosaic Museum houses mosaics from the Byzantine period, unearthed...