Images

Light entering the oculus of the Pantheon in Rome

Stonehenge in Amesbury, Wiltshire, UK

Relief of Darius I from Persepolis, 522-486 BCE

Tomb of Darius I, Naqsh-e Rustam, near Persepolis, Iran, c. 522–486 BCE

Golden Cavalry Face-Mask Helmet (Type Ribchester) dating from 80-125 CE, found on the bed of the Corbulo Canal (Fossa Corbulonis) near the Roman fort of Matilo (modern Leiden). (Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden, Netherlands)

Cavalry Face-Mask Helmet (Type Nijmegen-Kops Plateau), brass sheet on iron core, dating to the 1st or 2nd century CE. (Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden, Netherlands)

Upon death, ancient Greek culture called for placing a coin, or obol, in the mouth of the deceased to pay Charon for rowing him/her across the River Styx to the afterlife.

The ruins of Bhangarh Fort in Rajasthan, thought to be inhabited by ghosts.

Lamia, oil on canvas by John William Waterhouse, 1909, based on the Keats poem Lamia from 1820. Lamia was an ancient Greek precursor to vampires. Private collection.

A middle Corinthian Pyxis (cosmetic box) that shows friezes of lions, sirens, sphinxes and birds. At the rim there are female heads protruding. Circa 600-575 BCE, attributed to the Honolulu Painter. British Museum, London, GR 1873.10-12.1...