Images

Statue of tauroctony depicting Mithras about to kill the bull, found in situ resting on a masonry base in the Mithraneum of the Baths of Mithras, 1st century CE, Ostia Antica (Italy).

Marble portrait of Alexander the Great, 2nd-1st century BCE, said to be from Alexandria, Egypt. (British Museum, London)

Head of Mithras in Phrygian cap (CIMRM 815), from Walbrook Mithraeum in Londinium, CE 180-220. (Museum of London, Britain). Depicted as a handsome youth, Mithras wears his usual Phyrgian cap. His eyes are turned away from the deed of slaying...

Granite statue of Alexander the Great as Pharaoh, Greco-Egyptian, c. 300 BCE. (Liebieghaus museum, Frankfurt am Main)

Tauroctony fresco (depicting Mithras killing a bull) in the mithraeum (temple of Mithras) of Capua (Italy), 2nd century CE.

This plaque was used for protection against Lamashtu, a female demon or goddess who would imperil women during childbirth and even kidnap babies while breastfeeding. Neo-Assyrian, 10th-7th century BCE. Musee du Louvre, Paris

A typical double-spouted pot with handle of the Nazca civilization of ancient Peru (200 BCE-500 CE). The design is also typical of Nazca art: Bold lines and colours, often depicting mythical transformational creatures. (Los Angeles County...

A Nazca poncho (200 BCE-500 CE) which illustrates the vibrant colours and bold linear patterns typical of Nazca textiles. (Lombards Museum)

A beaten gold mask from the Nazca civilization of Peru, 200 BCE-500 CE. 18.4 x 20.5 cm. The mask may represent a shaman in transformational pose, a common motif in Nazca art. An alternative interpretation is that it represents the weeping...

An Arab folio on which is depicted a pharmacist preparing an elixir. From the manuscript of the De Materia Medica by Dioscorides, 1st century CE. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York