Sumer Sumerian image of Inanna.

Mesopotamia Ishtar holding a symbol of leadership.
Terracotta relief, early 2nd millennium BCE. From Eshnunna.

Egypt Nobleman and his wife, Egypt, Old Kingdom.
5th Dynasty, 2494-2345 BCE.

Egypt Seated Statue of Hatshepsut.
ca. 1479–1458 BCE.

Egypt A detail from the throne of Tutankhamun which shows the pharaoh with his wife Ankhsenamun.
ca. 1327 BCE, National Museum, Cairo.

Canaan Assyrian relief depicting the deportation of Judeans.
Lachish, 701 BCE.

Greece Minoan fresco of a Lady with the sacral knot at the back of the neck that seems to indicate that she is a priestess or even a goddess.
ca. 1400 BCE. The Herakleion Archaeological Museum, Crete.

Greece Briseis (right) being taken away from Achilles (left).
Pompeiian fresco, 1st century CE.

Greece Greek figurines depicting food preparation.

Greece A female aulos-player entertains men at a symposium.
Attic red-figure bell-krater, c. 420 BCE.

Greece A depiction of Antigone.

Greece Red-figure cup showing the death of Pentheus, from The Bacchae
ca. 480 BCE.

Greece A modern depiction of Orestes pursued by the Furies.
Painting by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1862.

Greece Hermaic pillar with a female portrait; inscription identifies the subject as the poet Sappho.

Greece Statue of Athena wearing a Corinthian helmet, the aegis and Gorgoneion (detail)
ca. 180­-190 CE.

Rome A modern depiction of the Rape of Lucretia.
Painting by Titian, 1571.

Rome Part of a family group from a Roman sarcophagus.

Rome Head of a Vestal Virgin.
Sculpture by Antonio Canova (1821 to 1822). Neoclassical, marble.

Rome Frieze of Agrippina crowning her young son Nero with a laurel wreath.
Aphrodisias, 54-59 CE.

Rome Slave woman from a Pompeii Fresco.
House of Punished Love VII, 2, 23, 1st century CE.

Rome A fresco of a Romano-Italian woman with a stylus and a wax tablet.
Pompeii, 79 CE.

Etruria Etruscan cinerary urn featuring a content old woman reclining holding a pomegranate.
300-100 BCE