Images

A portrait of Liu Bang who became the Chinese emperor Gao of the Han (Gaozu). Victor in the famous battle of Gaixia in 202 BCE, he founded the Han dynasty which would rule China from 202 BCE to 220 CE.

From the Yang Xin Dian (Hall of Mental Cultivation) in the Forbidden City in Beijing, constructed in 1537 CE. Eight emperors of the Qing Dynasty lived here. The words "Yang Xin" come from the Mencius (a collection of the thoughts of the philosopher...

View of Palmyra with the Temple of Bel, Syria. Palmyra (Aramaic: ܬܕܡܘܪܬܐ‎;Hebrew: תדמור; tiḏmor, Greek: Παλμύρα, Arabic: تدمر‎; Tadmur, /ˌpælˈmaɪərə/) was an ancient city in central Syria. In antiquity, it was an important city located...

Photo of Palmyra's 13th century CE Mamluk castle with ancient ruins in the foreground.

This is an amazing example of one of the earliest examples of Greek writing, dating to the 8th C. BC. It is written "boustrophedon", which means, rather than being read as English is, from left to right, every other line is flipped over...

Chamber Tomb 12 at the site of Dendra, is most famous as being the tomb from where the Dendra Panoply came from, and like that panoply, dates to around the end of the 15th century BC. Unlike the rest of the chamber tombs at Dendra, this one...

A statue of Shi Huangdi (259-210 BCE, also known as Qin Shi Huang, Qin Shih Huandi, Shih Huan-ti and Shi Huangti) who was the first emperor of a unified China. Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.

An engraved amethyst ring of Roman Emperor Constantius II, c. 360 CE (British Museum, London)

A kylix depicting the god Apollo pouring a libation and holding an early version of the lyre (chelys) which was made from the shell of a tortoise. The bird may represent the crow which announced the marriage of the nymph Aigle-Korone, the...

A statue of Terpsichore, the Greek Muse of Dance. A 2nd century CE copy from a Greek original (The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg).