The Lion of Chaeronea

Ancient Egyptian bronze figurine of the god Bes. Artist unknown; ca. 711-657 BCE (25th Dynasty, Late Period). Now in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Photo credit: LACMA.

Bronze head of a goat. Artist unknown; 3rd-1st cent. BCE (Hellenistic period). Now in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Photo credit: Cleveland Museum of Art.

Bronze statuette of a discus thrower. Unknown Etruscan artist, 5th cent. BCE. Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Bronze balsamarium (container for oil or perfume), made in Etruria in the first half of the 3rd century BCE. The balsamarium takes the form of a deity with a winged helmet, variously identified as 1) Turan, goddess of love, fertility, and sexual potency, identified with Aphrodite/Venus and patroness of the Etruscan city of Velch (=Vulci), or 2) one of the Lasas, deities who made up Turan's entourage, possibly connected to the Roman Lares (household gods). Height = 10.8 cm/4.2 in. Now in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. Photo credit: Walters Art Museum.

Bronze head from a life-size statue of the Roman emperor Trajan (r. 98-117 CE), from the settlement of Ulpia Noviomagus Batavorum = present-day Nijmegen, Netherlands. Now in the Museum het Valkhof, Nijmegen. Photo credit: Carole Raddato.

Ancient Greek ring depicting a dancing maenad. Artist unknown; 3rd or 2nd cent. BCE (Hellenistic). Now in the Louvre. Photo credit:  © Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons.

Denarius of the magistrate Sextus Pompeius Fostlus, minted in 137 BCE to advertise a purported family connection to Faustulus, the legendary shepherd who served as Romulus and Remus' foster-father. On the obverse, the helmeted head of the goddess Roma, with a capis (cup or bowl used for ritual purposes). On the reverse, the she-wolf suckles Romulus and Remus, while Faustulus looks on. Behind them is the fig tree known as the Ficus Ruminalis, marking the spot beside the Tiber where the twins' cradle came to rest. Photo credit: Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com

Ancient Egyptian depiction (gold with stone inlay) of the ba. One of the components of the multipartite soul in Egyptian thought, the ba, normally depicted as a human-headed bird, represented an individual's distinct personality. Artist unknown; early 3rd century BCE (=beginning of the Ptolemaic period). Now in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. Photo credit: Walters Art Museum.

Tetradrachm minted 364-363 BCE by the city of Amphipolis, at the mouth of the River Strymon in Thrace. On the obverse, the head of Apollo, wearing a laurel crown; on the reverse, a race torch surrounded by a square bearing the inscription AMΦ-IΠO-ΛIT-EΩN (="of the people of Amphipolis").

Formerly an Athenian colony, Amphipolis was lost to Athens during the Peloponnesian War as a result of the Spartan general Brasidas' brilliant northern campaign; an attempt by the noted demagogue Cleon to recover it ended in his defeat and death (though Brasidas was killed as well). Thereafter the polis remained independent, enjoying great strategic importance for a number of reasons: the nearby forests supplied vital timber for shipbuilding; local silver mines offered vast wealth to whoever controlled them; and the city was in a prime location to facilitate--or interfere with--grain shipments to Athens from the Black Sea region. However, only a few years after this coin was minted, the expansionist Philip II of Macedon conquered Amphipolis and consolidated his hold over Thrace. Amphipolis would remain an important Macedonian stronghold until the kingdom's defeat by Rome in 168 BCE.

Photo credit: Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com

Theseus subdues the Bull of Marathon. Silver kylix by an unknown artist, ca. 445-440 BCE. Now in the Vassil Bojkov collection, Sofia, Bulgaria. Photo credit: Gorgonchica/Wikimedia Commons.

Ancient Egyptian heart amulet (gold and green schist) of one Manhata. Artist unknown; ca. 1479-1425 BCE (reign of Thutmose III, 18th Dynasty, New Kingdom). From the Tomb of the Three Foreign Wives of Thutmose III at Wadi Gabbanat el-Qurud, Thebes; now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Ancient Roman portrait bust (bronze with silver inlay) of a young boy, claimed by some to depict the young Nero. Artist unknown; ca. 50-68 CE (late Julio-Claudian period). Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Silver coin of the Roman emperor Gallienus, minted at Rome and dating to his sole reign from 260 to 268 CE. On the obverse, the radiate bust of Gallienus; on the reverse, the personification of Laetitia (Happiness) with the inscription LAETITIA AUG(USTI). Found in Surrey, England, UK; now in the British Museum. Photo credit: The Portable Antiquities Scheme/The Trustees of the British Museum.

Incomplete silver penny bearing the crowned bust of Edmund I, King of the English (r. 939-946). Minted at an unknown location by one Ealmode; found in Norfolk. Photo credit: Suffolk County Council/Portable Antiquities Scheme.

Ancient Egyptian girdle, made from cowrie shells, gold, carnelian, feldspar, and copper-silver alloy, belonging to the Princess Sithathoryunet, thought to have been the daughter of the 12th Dynasty ruler Senusret II (r. 1897-1878 BCE). Found in the tomb of Sithathoryunet (BSA Tomb 8) in the Fayum; now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Ancient Greek bronze infantryman's helmet (Apulo-Corinthian style, type A). Manufactured in Apulia, Magna Graecia (present-day Puglia, Italy), ca. 510 BCE; now in the British Museum.

Bronze portrait bust found in the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum. The subject has been variously identified as Priapus, Dionysus/Bacchus, Plato, and Poseidon. Artist unknown; Roman copy after a Hellenistic original of ca. 100 BCE. Now in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples. Photo credit: Allan Gluck/Wikimedia Commons.