The Flickr Archaeology Image Generatr

Remains of Nisa, capital of the Parthian Empire

Remains of Nisa, capital of the Parthian Empire

Remains of Nisa, capital of the Parthian Empire

Remains of Nisa, capital of the Parthian Empire

Fortresses

Remains of Nisa, capital of the Parthian Empire

Remains of Nisa, capital of the Parthian Empire

Remains of Nisa, capital of the Parthian Empire

Fortresses

Mausoleum of Sultan Sanjat (12th Century) after restoration

Fortresses

At Museo de las Culturas de Oaxaca in Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzmán in Oaxaca, Mexico

At Museo de las Culturas de Oaxaca in Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzmán in Oaxaca, Mexico

At Museo de las Culturas de Oaxaca in Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzmán in Oaxaca, Mexico

At Museo de las Culturas de Oaxaca in Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzmán in Oaxaca, Mexico

Incense burners (Greek thymiateria) were important cult implements throughout the ancient Mediterranean world. This South Italian terracotta example of the second half of the 4th century BCE is exceptionally complex and rare: five women crowned with flowers are shown around a wellhead. The iconography reflects a local cult, probably that of Demeter and Kore who were widely worshipped in Southern Italy and Sicily at the time.

Each of the women carries different objects: a phiale (libation bowl), a pomegranate, a mirror, a skein of wool, a bird, et al.

Greek, South Italian, Tarentine, second half of the 4th century BCE.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2012.546)

The Feathered Serpent itself appears on a pyramid at the ruins of Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico

This figure may represent a maenad, a follower of Dionysos, god of wine. She wears a wreath of ivy and korymboi (ivy berries), and her garment is draped to leave her right breast bare. Quite a bit of her original polychrome decoration remains. The bright pink pigment the root of the Rubia tinctorum (rose madder) plant, a relative of coffee and gardenias. It is also known as dyer’s madder. Rose madder could be used as a pigment by chemically adhering the dye to a metallic solid, such as alum.

Greek, South Italian, Tarentine, late 3rd century BCE.

Met Museum, New York (11.212.18)

Comic actor from the theater, wearing a mask, a too-short tunic (baring his genitals), and wearing a pilos hat that resembles the head of a phallus.

Fourteen of these figures are said to have been found together in a burial in Attica. They are among the earliest known statuettes of actors and are superbly executed and preserved. Originally they were brightly painted. They document the beginning of standardized characters and masks, indicating the popularity not of a specific figure but of types—the old man, the slave, the courtesan, etc.—that appeared repeatedly in different plays. By the mid-fourth century BCE, Attic examples or local copies were known throughout the Greek world, from Southern Russia to Spain.

Greek, Late Classical, late 5th-early 4th century BCE.

H. 4 3/4 in. (12.1 cm)

Met Museum, New York (13.225.13)