Images

A map illustrating the changing balance of power in the Ancient Near East in the 13th century BCE resulting from the expansion of the Hittite and Assyrian empires and the collapse of the Mittani kingdom.

A reverse-glass painting showing the European customs factories at Canton (modern Guangzhou, China) around 1805.

A map illustrating the aftermath of the 15th century BCE ruinous campaigns by the Old Hittite Empire that led to the emergence of new powerful entities in the ancient Near East - the Middle Babylonian Kingdom of the Kassites, the Mitanni...

Huldrych Zwingli (1484-1531), painting by Hans Asper, c. 1549. Zürich, Switzerland.

A photo of a boatwoman from Canton (Guangzhou), Kwangtung province, China. Photograph by John Thomson, 1869. Wellcome Collection, London.

Takayo Fischer, Hakeem Kae-Kazim, and Ghassan Massoud in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007). The character Mistress Ching is likely based on the famed pirate chief Zheng Yi Sao (d. 1844), widow of Zheng Yi. © Walt Disney Pictures...

The tomb of the Grand Duke of Kyiv Yaroslav the Wise (r. 1019-1054). Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.

The interior and altar of Saint Sophia Cathedral of Kyiv.

Well-preserved fresco of a saint, 11th century. Saint Sophia Cathedral of Kyiv.

A Qing Dynasty (1636-1912) illustration showing pirates attacking merchant ships in the South China Sea. From the Qing Scroll. (Maritime Museum, Hong Kong)