Images

Alexander Hamilton, oil on canvas portrait by John Trumbull, 1792. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

This map illustrates the geopolitical situation in Europe in the lead-up to the Second World War (1939-45) as authoritarianism and totalitarianism were on the rise across the continent, fueled by political instability, economic crises, and...

A photograph of the Reichstag Fire of 27 February 1933, an arson attack on the German parliament blamed on a communist anarchist Marinus van der Lubbe but more likely the work of the Nazi party’s paramilitary group the Sturmabteilung (SA...

Relief orthostat (stone slab at the base of a wall) depicting two winged griffin demons, depicted as bird-headed with a human body. From Carchemish, Turkey. Dated to the Late Hittite period, 9-7th century BCE. Museum of Anatolian Civilization...

Etruscan three-headed Demon from a pediment relief found in Orvieto (Italy). Dated to around 480 BCE. Altes Museum, Berlin.

A marble head of Polyphemus, perhaps part of a large-scale sculptural ensemble depicting the blinding of Polyphemos, similar to a group found in an imperial dining grotto at Sperlonga, south of Rome. Dated to about 150 BCE or later...

Cerberus, detail of a statue group of Persephone (as Isis) and Pluto (as Serapis). From the Sanctuary of the Egyptian Gods at Gortyna. Dated to the mid-2nd century CE. Cerberus was a monstrous watchdog with three heads that guarded...

A painted travertine slab showing two griffins attacking a panther. Found in tomb 58 at the necropolis Andriuolo at Paestum, dated to 340 BCE. National Archaeological Museum of Paestum. Photo taken at the "Fantastic Creatures...

Hydria with a harpy. From Vulci, Italy, dated to the 530-500 BCE. In Greek mythology, a harpy was a part-bird, part-woman monster. In earlier accounts, harpies were described as beautiful young women with wings who personified windy...

Terracotta acroterion statue of Typhon, the "Father of All Monsters". From Gabii, Italy, 6th century BCE. Typhon was the most powerful of all Greek monsters. He was a winged giant with the head, arms, and torso of a man, had pointed...