Images

Columbarium, excavated in 1840 CE, on strip of land between Via Latina and Via Appia.

This largely first-century CE columbarium in Rome, discovered in 1852 CE, was once lined with marble. It is very 'up-market' in that the epitaphs are all preoccupied with status, even though the deceased are slaves and freed slaves. It was...

This fresco is on the first landing of the columbarium discovered in 1852 CE at the Vigna Codini, on the strip of land between Via Latina and Via Appia. The fresco has crumbled from the wall, revealing the first-century CE opus reticulatum...

High up on the wall almost lost in the shadows above a loculus of this columbarium one can just make out the outlines of a bird walking on a flowered garland from which hangs a grotesque mask. The columbarium was excavated in 1852 CE. The...

Danube River delta in Romania.

This stone weight, which weighs 30 minas (about 15 kilograms) was found in the north-west palace at Nimrud (ancient Kalhu), northern Mesopotamia, Iraq. It had been deposited there as booty. Babylonian, reign of Eriba-Marduk, circa 770 BCE...

In this clay tablet, Shamash-shum-ukin confirms a grant which was previously made by Ashur-nadin-shumi. The royal seal on this clay tablet is not an original impression, but a man-modelled copy. It depicts the Babylonia king fighting a oryx...

This monument depicts Shamash-shum-ukin as a basket bearer. He was the Assyrian king of Babylon from 668-648 BCE, and was the second son of Esarhaddon. Shamash-shum-ukin was killed after an unsuccessful rebellion against Ashurbanipal, his...

The Assyrian king Ashurbanipal carries a large basket of earth on his head. From Borsippa (modern-day Birs Nimrud, Babel Governorate, Iraq), Mesopotamia. Neo-Assyrian period, circa 668-655 BCE. (The British Museum, London).

This is one of the Amarna letters. In this clay tablet, the Kassite king Burna-Buriash II (in Babylon, Mesopotamia) corresponds with the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III, asking him to send more gold. Most of the Amarna letters were written...