Images

Stone skulls from the Templo Mayor in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. They represent the tzompantli or skull racks where the heads of sacrificial victims were placed.

Ashoka's pillar erected in the district of Vaishali, located in the Bihar state, India. This is one of the nineteen surviving columns erected or at least inscribed with edicts by the Emperor Ashoka during his reign in the 3rd century BCE...

The 'Great Stupa' located at Sanchi, a village in the Raisen District of the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. This stupa was originally commissioned by the emperor Ashoka the Great in the 3rd century BCE. According to some Buddhist accounts...

A copy of Zhu Xi's commentary on the 'Analects' of Confucius, printed during the Ming dynasty.

A map showing the principal settlements of the Olmec civilization in Mesoamerica (modern-day Mexico) which flourished from c. 1200-300 BCE.

A depiction of the Aztec god of war and the sun Huitzilopochtli. The god carries his typical atl-atl or spear-thrower, feathered arrows and shield and wears hummingbird feathers. (Codex Barbonicus).

A marble bust of Roman emperor Commodus as the hero of Greek mythology Hercules, c. 190-2 CE. (The Capitoline Museums, Rome)

A turquoise mosaic mask representing Xiuhtecuhtli, the Aztec god of fire, 1400-1521 CE. The mask is of cedar wood with mother-of-pearl eyes, conch shell teeth and once with gold leaf on the eyelids. (The British Museum, London).

A 15th century CE vase representing the Mesoamerican god of rain, storms and agriculture Tlaloc. From the Templo Mayor in Tenochtitlan. (National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City).

A marble bust of Roman emperor Pupienus, r. 238 CE. (The Vatican Museums, Rome).