Images

1598 Map of the Three Arctic Voyages (1594–1596) by Willem Barentsz. Spitsbergen (now Svalbard) is mapped for the first time and indicated as "Het Nieuwe Land" (Dutch for "the New Land"), centre-left.

A Depiction of Willem Barentsz's three expeditions in search of the coveted Northeast Passage to Cathay (China) and the Spice Islands. Woodcut. 1598.

A sculpture portraying a Silenus bearing the child Dionysos. Unknown Artist. Located at Glyptothek, Munich

Orpheus in Hades, 1897, by Pierre Marcel-Beronneau. Oil on Canvas. Located at Collection du Musée des Beaux-Arts, Marseille

Sculpture depicting either Hippolyta, Antiope or Armed Venus preparing for battle. Work by Pierre-Eugène-Emile Hébert, 1860. Located at National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Roman marble relief showing a small two-masted coastal sailing vessel called corbita, as well as its sailour. Found at Carthage and possibly made in Africa Proconsularis (modern-day Tunisia) circa 200 CE. Corbita boats had two sails, most...

Assyrian stela of Shamshi-Adad V (823-811 BCE) from the temple of Nabu in Nimrud, c. 814 BCE, showing the kind worshipping symbols of the gods. The cross on the king's chest is a symbol of the sun god. Through his dress the Shamshi-Adad V...

This wind vane (Old Norse veðrviti) glittered at the prow of a longship in the 11th century. Such vanes are very decorative - here a motif of the great beast - and mark of high status in the Viking Age and Early Middle Ages, not only simple...

Nikolaus Knüpfer, 17th Century oil painting depicting Hercules taking the girdle of Hippolyta as part of his ninth labor. From the Hermitage Museum.

Portrait by Lemuel Francis Abbott (1760–1802) of Thomas Pasley (1734-1808), Royal British Navy officer of the 18th century, who served in the American and French revolutionary wars.