Images

"The peristyle courtyards and gardens of the villas belonging to wealthy Romans were filled with fountains, sculpture, and monumental ornaments such as this vase. Many of these decorative...

"The deities Athena, Zeus, and Hera, assembled at the far left, preside over a musical contest between the Muses and Sirens. The Muses, associated with the highest intellectual and artistic...

Wall-painting of an amorous scene. The woman is holding a kithara. 1st century CE Height: 58 centimetres Length: 80 centimetres London, BM, 1867,0508.1353.

Sard gem engraved with a grasshopper marching to the right, wearing a lion-skin and playing on a lyre. Length: 1 centimetres Height: 1.3 centimetres 1st-3rd centuries CE London, BM, 1814,0704.1447.

The Seikilos Stele, Copenhagnen NM inv.14897. This grave stele preserves the oldest complete song that has survived to our times, and dates to around the 2nd century CE. Found in 1883 by Sir William Ramsay at Aydin (Tralleis...

The Seikilos Stele, Copenhagnen NM inv.14897. This grave stele preserves the oldest complete song that has survived to our times, and dates to around the 2nd century CE. Found in 1883 by Sir William Ramsay at Aydin (Tralleis...

A double-spouted pot in silver, made in imitation of pottery examples. From the Lambayeque Civilization of northern Peru, 900-1375 CE. (Art Institute of Chicago)

A gold glove from a tomb of the Lambayeque Civilization of northern Peru, 900-1375 CE. (Museo Oro del Perú y Armas del Mundo, Lima, Peru)

A gold mask and headdress assemblage from the Lambayeque civilization of northern Peru. The face above the mask represents a bat. From the Huaca Loro burial mound of Batan Grande, 900-1375 CE. (Lords of Sipan Museum, Peru)

A ceremonial knife (or tumi) from the Lambayeque civilization (Sican) of northern Peru, 9-11th century. Gold and silver inlaid with turquoise. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.