Images

This map illustrates the rise of the Sumerian city-state of Ur following the collapse of the Akkadian Empire (reign: circa 2334 - 2154 BCE). In the aftermath of political fragmentation and regional instability, Ur emerged as a leading center...

An inhabited initial from 13th-century France depicting the tripartite order of the Middle Ages: the Oratores (those who pray – the clerics), the Bellatores (those who fight – knights or nobility) and the Laboratores (those who work – peasants...

The Third Estate of France carrying the other two orders (Clergy and Nobility) on its back, engraving with the initials M. P., Paris, 1789. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.

Image of Frank Holt, the author of When Money Talks: A History of Coins and Numismatics.

When Money Talks: A History of Coins and Numismatics by Frank Holt.

A 17th-century portrait by Giovanni Battista Langetti of Anaxagoras (l. c. 500-c. 428 BCE), the Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher who claimed the First Cause of existence was Mind (nous). (Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA)

A 17th-century portrait by Jusepe de Ribera of Anaxagoras (l. c. 500-c. 428 BCE), the Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher who claimed the First Cause of existence was Mind (nous). (Private Collection)

A detail of a 19th-century fresco showing Anaxagoras (l. c. 500-c. 428 BCE), the Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher who claimed the First Cause of existence was Mind (nous). By Eduard Lebiedzki, after a design by Carl Rahl. (National and Kapodistrian...

Christ and Sinner, painting by Henryk Siemiradzki, 1873. Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg.

This map illustrates the rise of the Sumerian civilization in southern Mesopotamia, beginning around 6000 BCE. Situated between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, the region—later home to Akkad and Babylonia—saw the emergence of some of the...