Images

Painting by Vasily Polenov, 1899.

Temple of Athena Parthénos. Painting by Vasily Polenov, c. 1882.

Ruins of Jupiter Cathedral and Cathedral of Sun. Painting by Vasily Polenov (1882).

Painting by Vasily Polenov (1882). Oil on canvas. Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia.

A detail of the celebrated Aztec double-headed serpent. It is made from wood covered in turquoise mosaic, spondylus (red) and conch (white) shell. The eyes would have been rendered with inlay, probably of iron pyrite. The piece is believed...

The states during the Western Zhou period (1046-771 BCE) in China.

The Persephone Sarcophagus is on display in the Aachen, Germany Cathedral Treasury, and may have once held the bones of Charlemagne (d. 814 CE). The sarcophagus depicts "The Rape of Persephone," and was constructed in Rome sometime in the...

The Rosetta Stone is an incomplete grey and pink granodiorite stela dating from 196 BCE which presents a priestly decree concerning King Ptolemy V of Egypt. The text is in three different versions: Hieroglyphic, Demotic and Greek. The stone...

An Egyptian funerary stele of Ankh Hapy with an aramaic inscription. Limestone, from Memphis, 27th Dynasty, 525-404 BCE. (Vatican Museums, Rome)

The birth of Aphrodite from the Ludovisi Throne. Two Horai (divinities of nature and the seasons) assist the goddess. The piece, made from marble from Thasos, was in fact part of an altar. 460-450 BCE. (Palazzo Altemps, Rome)