Ali: Did you mean...?

Nighttime in a City, Persian manuscript folio attributed to Mir Sayyid ‘Ali, Tabriz, Iran, c. 1540. Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of John Goelet, formerly in the collection of Louis J. Cartier.

An adapted version of the calligraphic pane of Husayn ibn Ali in the Hagia Sophia, Istanbul.

Silk damask flag from Istanbul, dated 1810–1811 CE; it depicts the zulfiqar, Caliph Ali's (r. 656-661 CE) two-pronged sword.

A drawing of a 3rd century CE Sasanian rock relief in Naqsh-e Rustam, Iran. The relief shows on the right Ardashir I (r. 224-241 CE) and on the left the supreme Persian and Zoroastrian god Ahura Mazda. The god is giving the king his ring...

Persian mirror case with bird-and-flower motif, painting by Ali Ashraf, 1751. Brooklyn Museum.

Portrait of Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt, oil on canvas by Charles-Philippe Larivière, France, 1846. Ibrahim Pasha was the son of Mehmed Ali Pasha, the Egyptian governor who defied Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II and launched a military campaign in 1831...

The tympanon, the most popular frame-drum in ancient Greece, is now transformed into different varieties of drums. The original form of this instrument, identical in shape and making and producing the same rumbling sound described in classical...

The Great Game describes the rivalry between the British and Russian empires through the 19th century. The game was primarily concerned with the control of certain regions in Central Asia and the defence of British India. The rivalry, although...

The Mali Empire (1240-1645) of West Africa was founded by Sundiata Keita (r. 1230-1255) following his victory over the kingdom of Sosso (c. 1180-1235). Sundiata's centralised government, diplomacy and well-trained army permitted a massive...

Mansa Musa I was the ruler of the Mali Empire in West Africa from 1312 to 1337. Controlling territories rich in gold and copper, and monopolising trade between the north and interior of the continent, Mali grew extremely wealthy. Mansa Musa...