Decorative inlay with female flute player wearing a cylinder seal pendant on her wrist. Sumerian, Nippur, ca. 2600-2500 BC [Early Dynastic IIIa]. Shell with incised decoration. Loaned to the Morgan Library & Museum from the Metropolitan Museum of Art [3000×4000] [OC]March 20, 2025
Byzantine Ring, 12th century. The sides of the octagonal bezel are inscribed in Greek with a quotation from Psalm 26: “Lord, my Light and my Savior, whom shall I fear?” In contrast to this Christian motto, the intaglio depicts the pagan god Pan. Walters Art Museum [1800×1738]March 20, 2025
Ancient Greek helmets. Top line, from left to right: Illyrian type helmet, Corinthian helmet. Bottom line, from left to right: Phrygian type helmet, Pileus, Chalcidian helmet. Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich [2592×1944]March 20, 2025
The neolithic tomb of Knowth (c. 3200BC) contains the largest assemblage of megalithic art in Europe. Most of the art, such as this example, features circles, spirals, or lozenge patterns. County Meath, Ireland. [OC] [4032×3024]March 19, 2025
4000+ Year Old Cypriot Bowl (Red Slip Early Bronze Age 2300 – 2100 BCE, tulip style bowl, zoomorphic heads on four sides) [4660 × 6418]March 19, 2025
Reliquary containing a thorn from the crown allegedly worn by Jesus at his crucifixion. This was part of the Holy Roman Emperor’s Imperial Treasury by 1544. Now in the British Museum. [1225 x 2000]March 19, 2025
Terracotta torso showing the internal organs of the abdomen, intended either to indicate the part of the body that needed help or as thanks for a cure. Objects like this were left at healing sanctuaries and religious sites as offerings to gods such as Asklepios. 200BCE-200CE. Wellcome [1363×2048]March 19, 2025
Intaglio with a man harvesting wheat; on the reverse, Greek inscription: “I am working, but I am not suffering”. 1st–3rd centuries AD. BnF Museum [1000×750]March 19, 2025
Enamelled glass depicting a gladiator, found at Begram, Afghanistan, which was once part of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, but was ruled by the Kushan Empire during the contemporaneous Roman Principate period, to which the glass belongs, 52–125 AD, Guimet Museum, Paris. [1383×1984]March 19, 2025
The Oath of Strasbourg, sworn on 14 February 842 by Louis the German and Charles to Bald to each other’s armies to create an alliance against Lothair I. The oath contains one of the earliest written texts of the French and German languages. Text and translation in comments. [500×1000]March 19, 2025
Coin of Sophytes, Satrap of Bactria, 300 BCE, silver. On display at Indian Museum, Kolkata, India.[3595×1800]March 19, 2025
