Images

The Shichifukujin or Seven Gods of Luck from Japanese folklore. From left to right: Daikoku, Bishamonten, Ebisu, Fukurokuju, Benzaiten, Hotei, Jurojin.

A 2nd century CE Roman sculpture depicting the infant Hercules strangling the snake put into his cradle by Hera jealous of her husband Zeus' infidelity with Alkmene which produced Hercules. (Capitoline Museums, Rome).

Kali is the Hindu goddess (or Devi) of death, time and doomsday and is often associated with sexuality and violence but is also considered a strong mother-figure.

Orpheus mosaic from the dining room of a Roman private house at Miletus, first half of 2nd century CE (Pergamon Museum, Berlin)

Attic red-figure amphora depicting a running Gorgon, Medusa's flight from the hero Perseus, c. 490 BCE. Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich.

The bronze head of Medusa is a decorative element from one of the Nemi Ships built by Caligula around 37-41 CE. It is now in the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme in Rome.

A bronze statue of the Greek hero Perseus who has just slain the Gorgon Medusa. (By Cellini 1545-54 CE, Florence).

A representation of the Titan Oceanus, a figure from Greek mythology who was a personification of the river or ocean which encircled the world and was the source of all other rivers. With the Titan Tethys, he was the father of the Oceanids...

A Roman statue of the pastoral god Pan, from a Hellenistic original. Provenance: Campo Marzio, Rome. (Capitoline Museums, Rome).

Early Roman Empire portrait of Thucydides found on a mosaic floor at Seleuceia (Turkey), Antalya Museum.