Images

Etruscan male head from Latium. 3rd century BCE. (Antikensammlungen, Munich, Germany)

An Etruscan terracotta sarcophagus lid depicting one Larthia Seianti. 2nd century BCE, Near Chiusi, Italy. (Museo Archeologico Etrusco, Florence)

This gypsum door-sill was carved as a carpet; there are rosette and lotus flower designs. Neo-Assyrian Period, reign of Ashurbanipal II, 645-635 BCE. From room I, door b or d, the North Palace at Nineveh, Northern Mesopotamia...

This clay tablet records the restoration of the temple of the sun god Shamash at Larsa (modern-day Sankarah or Tell as-Senkereh) by King Hammurabi. Old Babylonian Period, reign of Hammurabi, 1792-1750 BCE. From Larsa...

This clay tablet was a letter from a person named Nanni to another one, Ea-nasir. The former complained that the wrong grade of copper ore has been delivered after a gulf (modern-day Arabic/Persian...

The cuneiform inscription on this clay tablet claims various exemptions for the cities of Babylon, Nippur, and Sippar and warns rulers against disregarding them. This is a copy which was made about 700-650 BCE of an...

This is an inquiry addressed to the sun-god Shamash. It asks whether the Assyrian army, commanded by Nabu-shar-utsur, will successfully recover the fortress captures by the Manneans, a people who lived in western Iran. Neo-Assyrian...

This clay tablet is one of a series that chronicles important events between 747-282 BCE. Here, the text narrates the events between 615-609 BCE, and includes an account of the destruction of the Assyrian...

Bronze foundation figurine, depicting a kneeling god holding an inscribed peg. From Southern Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq), 2144-2124 BCE. Pergamon Museum, Berlin.

Bronze figurine of a basket bearer with cuneiform inscriptions. Circa 1770 BCE. From Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq. (Pergamon Museum, Berlin, Germany)