Images

The Titan Atlas, from the facade of the Old Customs Building in Porto Alegre, Brasil, 2007 CE.

Scene from the Saint Remigius binding, last quarter of the 9th century CE, ivory, Musée de Picardie in Amiens, France. The scene shows Clovis I being bapitized by St. Remy.

Oil lamp in the form of a wine barrel found in Cologne (Germany), Roman Empire. (Romisch-Germanisches Museum, Cologne)

Hairnet made of finely woven gold wires, 1st century CE (Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Rome)

Silver mirror with an elaborate relief on the backside depicting an episode of the myth of Phrixus and Helle from the ancient Greek legend of the Golden Fleece, end of 2nd century CE. (Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Rome)

A Roman stilus, used for incising letters into the soft wax surface of writing tablets, the broad flat end was used for erasing. Roman Empire. (British Museum, London)

Pottery ink-well inscribed with the owner's name, Iucundus, from Londinium (Roman London). The ink was made up using one part of gum-water to three parts carbon black. (British Museum, London)

Wooden writing-tablet, 1st-2nd century CE, from Londinium (Roman London). British Museum, London

Gladiator helmet-shaped dropper flask decorated with "snake thread" trails, found in Cologne, Germany, dated to the 3rd century CE. Römisch-Germanisches Museum, Cologne.

Roman gilt silver fibula in the form of a three-story tripartite gate of rusticated masonry, with a central double-arched entrance flanked by two towers and a draped bust of Sol at the top story, c. 3rd century to early...