Treasures in Tunis: An Archaeologist’s Guide to the Bardo National Museum
Helen Dixon picks twelve highlights from Tunis’s reopened Bardo National Museum, from Punic amulets and Roman mosaics to the Blue Quran and a shipwreck.
In Search of Wes Anderson’s “Phoenicia”
Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme invokes the ancient Mediterranean world without depicting it, raising an interesting question: what exactly does “Phoenicia” mean in the
The Meaning(s) of Achaemenid Silver
A silver drinking cup given by the Achaemenid Persian king was worth more than its weight in metal — but exactly how much more?
A Bestiary of Ancient Nubia
The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures presents a new exhibit offering a fascinating synthesis on animals in Nubian art and culture.
Connecting Objects Across Space and Time with 3D Scanning and Shape Analysis
Can we use digital tools to test whether fragments and museum objects might be related? Can we recover parts of their histories that were previously inaccessible?
Lifting the Sky: The Cosmic Program on the ˁAin Samiya Goblet
The ˁAin Samiya goblet is small enough to sit in the palm of a hand — barely eight centimeters tall — yet its imagery reaches for the architecture of the cosmos.
An Alternative Timeline for the Colossus of Rhodes
Legend says that the Colossus of Rhodes fell to ruins not long after its construction. Ancient texts and geological evidence suggest a more complex history.
A Girl’s Helping Hand on the Journey to the Afterlife: Alabaster Ishtar-Aphrodite Figurines from Seleucid-Parthian Babylonia
December 2023 | Vol. 11.12 By Stephanie M. Langin-Hooper Sometime late in the Seleucid or early in the Parthian period (c. 2nd century BCE), a family living in or near Babylon grie
Ceremonial Standards in the Visual Culture of Early Mesopotamia
August 2023 | Vol. 11.8 By Renate van Dijk-Coombes Ceremonial standards feature prominently in the iconography of ancient Mesopotamia. Today when we think of standards, we usually
The Maritime Transport of Sculptures in the Ancient Mediterranean
May 2023 | Vol. 11.5 By Katherina Velentza From the 16th century onwards, hundreds of Greek and Roman sculptures have been discovered in the Mediterranean Sea, both from shipwrecks