Images

This is a faience (bluish-green) drinking cup. The cup's exterior surface was elaborated with incised decoration representing lotus flower petals. From Egypt. New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, 1543-1292 BCE. (The...

Calcite canopic jars of Neskhons (21st Dynasty) with painted wooden lids representing the Four Sons of Horus.

A portrait bust of Pausanias, the 5th century BCE Spartan general and regent who successfully commanded the Greek forces at the Battle of Plataea in 479 BCE. (Capitoline Museums, Rome)

Bust of Nicias, Athenian politician (c. 470-413 BCE). Illustration from World's Famous Orations, Vol. 1. by William Jennings Bryan, Francis Whiting Halsey.

The Berlin 10499 papyrus tells the Tale of Sinuhe. It is one of the most well preserved copies of the story. The script was written in Hieratic which is roughly a cursive version of Middle Egyptian. The papyri is also...

The Lion Gate at Hattusa, the capital of the Hittite Empire. The gate, dated to the 13th century BCE, was flanked by two towers. The head of the lion on the left had already been broken away in antiquity. It has been reconstructed...

The Sphinx Gate at Alacahöyük (the site of a Neolithic and Hittite settlement in central Turkey) was built in the 14th century BCE. It was the south entrance of the city and was fortified with towers...

This clay tablet dates back to the reign of the Achaemenid king Cyrus the Great, who ruled Iran between 550-530 BCE. The cylinder describes the king's peaceful capture of the city of Babylon in the year 539 BCE and he how built...

Here the goddess Aphrodite/Venus is surprised as she bathes, her water jar resting under her left thigh. She crouches naked and attempts to cover herself with her arms and expressive hands. Her beautiful head, with its top-knot hair...

From the mountain region; found in a hoard with 4 other similar figurines. The hands might have held a weapon. From Gezzine (Jezzine), modern-day Lebanon. Middle Bronze Age, 2400-2000 BCE. (The British...