Images

Woodblock print in the shangtu xiawen format (illustration above, text below) from the 9th century CE, Tang Dynasty. The top part shows the seated Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, flanked by two inscribed cartouches. The bottom...

Emperor Xuanzong (r. 712-756 CE) of the Tang Dynasty.

Empress Wu Zetian (r. 683-704 CE) of the Tang Dynasty. Image taken from An 18th-century album of portraits of 86 emperors of China, with Chinese historical notes. Originally published/produced in China, 18th century. (British...

Adonis, 17th-century restoration of an ancient marble torso. Louvre Museum, Paris.

Bust of Miltiades on display in the Athens War Museum.

Mosaic depicting the Judgement of Paris, one of the preliminaries in the Trojan War story. The mosaic, dating to the second century CE, adorned a dining room in the house of a wealthy Roman in Antioch on the Orontes...

The lighting of fires during the Aztec New Fire Ceremony of 1507, a ritual held every 52 years to ensure the continuation of the Sun. The priests carry fire bundles and wear turquoise masks in imitation of the fire god Xiuhtecuhtli...

A wooden figurine of the Chinese scholar and philospher Lu Dongbin. He was elevated to immortal status by followers of Daoism. Lu Dongbin lived in the 9th century CE during the Tang Dynasty. (Field Museum, Chicago)

A page illustrating the various hexagrams used with the I-Ching (c. 1150-1250 BCE), or Book of Changes. This book is still available today providing a reader with interpretations for certain hexagrams which tell the future. (1701...

A monumental statue at Mt. Qingyuan of Lao-Tzu, the Chinese philosopher who lived c. 500 BCE and who is credited with founding Daoism (Taosim).