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The Chester Beatty Papyri are a collection of early Christian and Jewish manuscripts written in Greek, acquired in Egypt by the industrialist Alfred Chester Beatty in the 1930s. Dating primarily to the 3rd century CE, the texts include important early portions of the Old and New Testaments, as well...
Papyrus 75, commonly called P75 and now catalogued as Papyrus Bodmer XIV-XV, is an early Greek papyrus codex containing substantial portions of the Gospels of Luke and John. Usually dated to the late second or early third century, it is one of the earliest surviving witnesses to these texts. Its wor...
The Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri are early Christian manuscripts in Greek acquired by collector Alfred Chester Beatty during the 1930s. Papyrus 45 contains portions of the four Gospels and Acts, Papyrus 46 preserves a substantial collection of Pauline epistles, and Papyrus 47 contains part of Reve...
The Dura-Europos synagogue paintings are a cycle of biblical wall paintings created around the middle of the 3rd century CE in a synagogue at Dura-Europos, in present-day Syria. The surviving scenes depict figures and narratives from the Hebrew Bible, including Moses, Samuel, David, and Ezekiel. The...
The Arch of Septimius Severus stands within the Roman Forum, constructed in 203 AD. It honors Emperor Septimius Severus and his military successes against the Parthian Empire. This monumental structure represents a key achievement of the Severan dynasty’s architectural legacy. Historians and visitor...
Pei Xiu was a prominent Chinese cartographer during the 3rd century. He developed and codified the first systematic grid-based mapmaking system in China. His work established six fundamental principles of cartography that profoundly influenced subsequent map creation for centuries. These concepts we...
The Arch of Caracalla is an ancient Roman triumphal arch located at the archaeological site of Volubilis in present-day Morocco. It was constructed in 217 AD to honor the Roman Emperor Caracalla and his mother, Julia Domna. The monument features a distinctive triple-bay design and once bore bronze s...
Aurelian was Roman emperor from 270 to 275 during the Crisis of the Third Century. Through military campaigns he defeated the Palmyrene Empire in the east and recovered the breakaway Gallic Empire in the west, restoring most imperial territory and earning the title Restitutor Orbis, or Restorer of t...
The Leiden Magical Papyrus is a manuscript from Roman-period Egypt containing ritual, medical, divinatory, and alchemical material in Greek and Demotic Egyptian. Commonly associated with Papyrus Leiden I 384, it is generally dated to the third or fourth century CE and is held by the National Museum...
The Arch of Caracalla is a Roman triumphal arch located at the ancient city of Dougga (Thugga) in northern Tunisia, constructed around 214–217 AD during the reign of Emperor Caracalla. It stands as part of one of North Africa's most extensively preserved Roman archaeological sites, which is designat...
The Janiculum Mills were grain mills powered by an aqueduct on Rome's Janiculum Hill, forming an important milling center during the late Roman period.
Volubilis is a partly excavated Roman city in modern-day Morocco that served as the capital of the kingdom of Mauretania Tingitana. The site contains well-preserved ruins dating primarily from the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, including a prominent basilica, a triumphal arch, and numerous Roman villas w...
Diocletian was Roman emperor from 284 to 305 CE and brought greater political stability after the military and administrative crises of the third century. He reorganized imperial government and established the Tetrarchy, in which two senior emperors and two junior colleagues governed different regio...
Newport Arch in Lincoln, England, is the surviving northern gateway of the Roman colonia known as Lindum Colonia. Built across Ermine Street and generally dated to the Roman imperial period, it preserves a large central passage with part of a smaller pedestrian arch beside it. Modern traffic still p...
The Arch of Septimius Severus is a Roman triumphal arch located at the ancient city of Dougga in northern Tunisia. Erected in 205 AD, the arch was dedicated to Emperor Septimius Severus. It is a single-bay structure positioned along the main road leading into the city. While it has lost much of its...
Dougga, ancient Thugga, is an extensive archaeological site in northern Tunisia containing the remarkably preserved ruins of a Roman-Berber city. The settlement evolved from an original Numidian center, which is evidenced by the prominent second-century BC Libyco-Punic mausoleum located nearby. Unde...
Djemila, formerly known as Cuicul, is an ancient Roman archaeological site located in the mountains of northeastern Algeria. Founded in the 1st century CE, the city was adapted to the steep mountainous terrain, featuring cardo and decumanus streets connected by monumental stairways. Among the surviv...
Zenobia was the 3rd-century ruler of Palmyra, an influential trading city in Roman Syria, initially governing on behalf of her young son Vaballathus. Palmyrene forces extended their control across much of the Roman East and occupied Egypt during the political instability of the Roman Empire. Emperor...
The Arch of the Argentarii is a small, single-bay Roman arch in the Forum Boarium of Rome, dedicated in AD 204 by the city's money changers (argentarii) and cattle merchants in honor of Septimius Severus and his family. It is not a triumphal arch but rather an honorary gateway incorporated into a la...
The Arch of Gallienus is a Roman arch in Rome, Italy, built in 262 AD as a monumental city gate, originally dedicated to Emperor Gallienus and his wife by a wealthy Roman citizen.
Dura-Europos was a Hellenistic, Parthian, and Roman frontier city founded around 300 BCE on a plateau overlooking the Euphrates River in eastern Syria. The site preserves a synagogue with extensive biblical wall paintings, one of the earliest known Christian house-churches, and a Mithraeum, reflecti...
Huaca Rajada is an archaeological complex located in the Lambayeque region of northern Peru, near the modern town of Sipán. The site consists of adobe pyramids and is most famous as the location of the unlooted tomb of the Lord of Sipán, a prominent ruler of the Moche culture. Discovered in 1987 by...
The Porte de Mars in Reims, France, is the widest Roman triumphal arch in the world, built in the 3rd century AD and notable for its three archways.
The Arch of Gallienus is a Roman gate in Rome dedicated in 262 AD by a private citizen to honor Emperor Gallienus and his wife Salonina.
A Roman gate in Ravenna through which Emperor Augustus reportedly entered the city; demolished in the 16th century and now known only through historical records.
Roman Emperor Valerian (r. 253–260) was the first Roman emperor captured alive in battle, taken prisoner by Sassanid king Shapur I in 260 AD.
