
Evolution of Sumerian kingship
According to the Sumerian King List, kingship was already in the third millennium BC an ancient institution. But is this correct? Where and how did Sumerian kingship originate?

Marcus Aurelius and a mysterious embassy to China
International relations between the West and the Far East date back much further than usually thought and were originally much more benign than modern encounters.

Graeco-Buddhist art
The Gandhara connection
The entanglement of Graeco-Roman and Indian Buddhist culture is well reflected in Gandharan art dating to the early centuries of our era.

The Gemma Augustea
A glimpse behind the curtain
The Gemma Augustea, a beautiful piece of Roman art, reveals Augustus’ imperial ambitions and was therefore kept out of the public eye.

The language of tyranny
Different types of government use different language. A short treaty from Athens provides an example of this from the ancient world.

Lucretia and the archetype of Etruscan promiscuity
Scholarship has tended to downplay the promiscuity of Etruscan women as described by Greek sources. But with evolving modern sexual sensibilities, perhaps a different approach is required.

Real estate for the dead
Central Italian hut urns
During the Early Iron Age, the peoples of Central Italy sometimes placed the ashes of the dead in urns modelled after huts or houses.

A tale of three cities
Zagora, Hypsele, and Andros
The eighth century BC was a time of great change in the Early Iron Age Aegean. One of these changes is exemplified by the reorganization of settlements on the Cycladic island of Andros.

The Edfu Connection
Ptolemaic seal impressions
The Allard Pierson and Royal Ontario Museums together possess a unique hoard of Hellenistic clay sealings from Edfu in Egypt.

Taking the bull by the horns
Julian’s controversial coinage
An unusual coin shows the power of images as Julian the Apostate clashes with the unruly people of Antioch.