Images

Prayer to Thoth for skill in writing. The prayer is written in hieratic script, found at Thebes sometime prior to c. 1830 CE, and purchased by the British Museum in 1839 CE from the collector Giovanni Anastasi.

An illustration of Cunda (Chunda) preparing the last meal for the Buddha. (Wat Kasatrathiraj, Ayutthaya)

Stele of Minnakht, chief of the scribes, 14th century BCE. (Louvre Museum, Paris)

A sheet of papyrus with an extract from the Egyptian 'Tale of Two Brothers' (Papyrus D'Orbiney). 19th Dynasty, 1185 BCE. (British Museum, London)

Example of a Tamil Brahmi inscription carved on rock found at Dakshinachitra, Chennai (southern India)

Brahmi inscription on an Ashokan Pillar (3rd century BCE) found at Lumbini in present-day Southern Nepal.

A 3rd century BCE Brahmi inscription incised on a fragment of one of the Ashokan Pillars. This piece is currently kept at the British Museum.

A marble bust of Corinthian tyrant Periander, 627–587 BCE. Roman copy of a 4th century BCE Greek original. (Vatican Museums, Rome)

A portrait of the Korean Buddhist monk Jinul (Chinul), 1158-1210 CE. Jinul's unifying and inclusive form of Buddhism is known as Jogye Buddhism and it became the official state religion of Korea. (18th century CE painting in Songgwangsa Temple...

A portrait of the Korean Buddhist monk Uicheon, 1055-1101 CE. He tried to reconcile the two Son and Kyo sects of Buddhism which stressed the importance of meditation and scriptures respectively.