Images

Statue of Amakusa Shiro at Hara Castle, photograph by Matthew Allison, 4 October 2025. Amakusa Shiro (1621-1638) was the supposed leader of the Shimabara Rebellion, a Christian uprising in southern Japan from 1637-1638. After a protracted...

The conflicts commonly known as the English Civil Wars form part of the wider Wars of the Three Kingdoms, a series of interconnected struggles across England, Scotland, and Ireland. These wars unfolded during the reign of Charles I of England...

Sargon II (r. 722-705 BCE), one of the most important kings of the Neo-Assyrian Empire and founder of the Sargonid Dynasty, with a dignitary on a low-relief from the left wall of the palace of Sargon II at Dur Sharrukin in Assyria, now Khorsabad...

A photograph of a Belgian steamship on the Congo River near Boma in the Belgian Congo. Congolese are shown carrying goods or ballast to the ship. Taken from a 1912 postcard.

An 1889 photograph of a trading station or river 'factory' in the Belgian Congo. Such stations bought and sold commodities like ivory and rubber.

A selection of postage stamps issued by the Belgian Congo (1908-60) and its predecessor, the Congo Free State (1885-1908). Private Collection

A cartoon from a 1906 edition of Punch magazine highlighting the rapacious regime of Leopold II, King of the Belgians (here depicted as a snake), in the Congo Free State (Belgian Congo from 1908). Congo was ruthlessly exploited for its natural...

One of the most remarkable builds of the ancient world, the metropolis of Caesarea Maritima was literally built from the ground up. In the latter years of the 1st century BCE, as a port city, it served Rome’s purpose in extending its military...

The Hittite Empire emerged in central Anatolia during the early second millennium BCE and developed into one of the major powers of the Late Bronze Age. Centered on Hattusa, it ruled over a culturally diverse realm rooted in the older land...

Enheduanna, high priestess of Ur, daughter of Sargon of Akkad, the first author in the world known by name. Cropped image from the Disc of Enheduanna, an artifact discovered in 1927. Object B16665, Courtesy of the Penn Museum.