Images

A colossal marble bust of the Roman Emperor Tiberius (r. 14-37 CE), probably from a public building. Housed at the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.

This is the head from what was originally a complete figure. The young woman's hair is tied in loops, her face is partly painted red, and she wears a bead necklace. This suggests that she may be a performer of a ritual dance or a shaman...

Portrait of a sophist (a teacher of philosophy and rhetoric), from Smyrna, 193–211 CE. Izmir Museum of History and Art, Turkey.

A marble grouping of three deities from the Agora of Smyrna. In the center is Poseidon who probably held a trident in his right hand. On his left is a statue of Demeter. To his right is the lower half of the goddess Artemis. The grouping...

Alex Hogh Anderson as Ivar the Boneless in the TV series Vikings. Photo by HISTORY - © 2017 The HISTORY Channel

A publicity still showing several of the key characters from the Vikings TV series 2013-present. Photo by HISTORY - © 2016 The HISTORY Channel

Travis Fimmel as Ragnar Lothbrok in the TV series Vikings. Photo by HISTORY - © 2016 The HISTORY Channel

The oasis state of Khotan with its capital at Yotkan, south of the Taklamakan desert, was a prosperous and powerful kingdom. Excavations have yielded many terracotta figures and ceramics of a Hellenistic style adopted from Iran. There are...

This is a bronze figure of a standing bearded deity. He wears a pointed and horned helmet. His elbows are flexed with fisted hands. From Toprakkale, Eastern Anatolia, in modern-day Turkey. Urartian, 8th to 7th century BCE. (The British Museum...

This is a stone gable-shaped seal. It is carved with a procession of three horned animals, probably gazelles. From Central Turkey or Northern Syria. Late Chalcolithic (Copper) Age, 4000-3000 BCE. (The British Museum, London).