Images

Colossal bust of the emperor Vespasian, 69-79 CE, from Rome. (Neues Museum, Berlin)

A map of Lake Titicaca in South America, located between Peru and Bolivia. For ancient Andean peoples the lake was a sacred site and considered the centre of the cosmos and place of original creation.

A traditional totora reed raft on Lake Titicaca. For several pre-Columbian cultures, including the Incas, the lake was considered the centre of the cosmos and place of creation.

The so-called Green Caesar, a posthumous bust showing Julius Caesar as a statesman dressed in a toga. Being idealised in contrast to earlier Caesar portraits, this portrait was adapted to the taste of the early Imperial Age. (Altes Museum...

Roman mosaic found at Hadrian's Villa depicting a pair of centaurs fighting wild cats, c. 130 CE. The mosaic is made of thousands of small, closely set tesserae (1-2 millimiters) called "opus vermiculatum." (Altes Museum, Berlin, Germany.)

The so-called Minerva Bowl, a silver cup from the Hildesheim Treasure (Germany), the largest collection of Roman silver found outside the imperial frontiers, 1st century BCE - 1st century CE (Augustan period). (Altes Museum, Berlin)

Tondo showing the Severan dynasty: Septimius Severus with Julia Domna, Caracalla and Geta, whose face has been erased, probably because of the damnatio memoriae put against him by Caracalla, from Djemila (Algeria), circa 199-200 CE. (Neues...

Statue of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III, son of Ashurnasirpal II, grandson of Tikulti-Ninurta. The inscriptions on the statue give a brief account of the king's genealogical titles and characteristics. Basalt, from Assur, neo-Assyrian...

Bel-harran-beli-usur was a high palace official (chamberlain) during the reign of the Assyrian kings Shalmaneser IV (782-773 BC) and Tigleth-Pileser III (744-727 BC). He built a city and a large temple to the west of Nineveh. The stele features...

Bust of Hadrian in dark green basalt, 120 - 130 CE. (Altes Museum, Berlin)