Images

A painting (dated 1898) of a fictionalised event in which Napoleon (1769-1821) looks upon Charlemagne's imperial crown in Aachen, Germany, to symbolise the continuity between one European conqueror and another. Current location unknown.

A diagram created by the famous Iranian polymath Al-Biruni (973 – after 1050) depicting a Lunar Eclipse.

An illumination from the Sachsenspiegel, a German book of customary law, compiled somewhere between 1220-1235. The image depicts Christ giving one sword to the Holy Roman Emperor and another to the Pope. The manuscript is in the Saxon State...

This map illustrates the rise and rapid expansion of Islam from the time of the Prophet Muhammad (622–632 CE) through the great caliphates of the 7th to 9th centuries. Beginning in Arabia, the new faith and its armies spread under the Rashidun...

A Roman terracotta oil lamp depicting an erotic scene between two women. From Anatolia. c. 1st Century BCE. (British Museum)

Red-figure kylix depicting same sex courtship. The men offer gifts such as flowers and wreaths to indifferent youths. Attributed to the Douris Painter, c. 480 BCE. (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Depiction of kinnari, half bird, half human divine musicians in Buddhism, on the porch at Vat That, Luang Prabang, Laos.

Dance to the Berdache, drawing by George Catlin, c. 1861-1869. National Gallery of Art, Washington D. C. Drawn while on the Great Plains, among the Sac and Fox Indians, the sketch depicts a ceremonial dance to celebrate the two-spirit person...

Red-figure kylix depicting youths at the baths in a homoerotic scene. Attributed to the Codris Painter, c. 430 BCE. Attica, Greece. (British Museum)

A drawing of an Etruscan fresco depicting two male lovers next to a bearded man. From the Tomb of the Chariots in Tarquinia, Italy. (British Museum)