Capitoline Venus, 2nd century C.E., marble, 193 cm (Capitoline Museums, Rome) (Roman copy of the Aphrodite of Knidos, a 4th century B.C.E. Greek original by Praxiteles) Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker. More art history videos on smarthistory.org.

Caryatid (South Porch) and Ionic Column (North Porch), Erechtheion on the Acropolis, Athens, marble, 421-407 B.C.E., Classical Period (British Museum, London); Mnesicles may have been the architect. Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.

Charioteer of Delphi, c. 478-474 B.C.E., bronze (lost wax cast) with silver, glass and copper inlay, 1.8 m high (Delphi Archaeological Museum). Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker. Inscription on base: "Dedicated by Polyzalus, younger brother of Gelon, tyrant of Gela and later of Syracuse, and of Hieron"

A brief explanation of the term contrapposto while looking at "Idolino" from Pesaro, (Roman), c. 30 B.C.E., bronze, 158 cm (Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze), speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker. Although these particular objects may not have been known in the Renaissance, the ideas and form of contrapposto were revived in the Italian Renaissance.

Near Eastern Languages and Cultures graduate student Sara Brumfield recounts her experience working at the UCLA Library's Center for Primary Research and Training, where she described and translated two collections of cuneiform tablets. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.

Met curator Yelena Rakic on reading into Cylinder seal and modern impression: nude bearded hero wrestling with a water buffalo; bull-man wrestling with lion from Mesopotamia, c. 2250–2150 B.C.E. . Created by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Cyrus Cylinder is one of the most famous objects to have survived from the ancient world. It was inscribed in Babylonian cuneiform on the orders of Persian King Cyrus the Great (559-530 B.C.E.) after he captured Babylon in 539 B.C.E. It was found in Babylon in modern Iraq in 1879 during a British Museum excavation. Cyrus claims to have achieved this with the aid of Marduk, the god of Babylon. He then describes measures of relief he brought to the inhabitants of the city, and tells how he returned a number of images of gods, which Nabonidus had collected in Babylon, to their proper temples throughout Mesopotamia and western Iran. At the same time he arranged for the restoration of these temples, and organized the return to their homelands of a number of people who had been held in Babylonia by the Babylonian kings. Although the Jews are not mentioned in this document, their return to Palestine following their deportation by Nebuchadnezzar II, was part of this policy. The cylinder is often referred to as the first bill of human rights as it appears to encourage freedom of worship throughout the Persian Empire and to allow deported people to return to their homelands, but it in fact reflects a long tradition in Mesopotamia where, from as early as the third millennium B.C.E., kings began their reigns with declarations of reforms.

A conversation with Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker in front of the Rosetta Stone, Egypt, Ptolemaic Period, 196 B.C.E., granodiorite, 112.3 x 28.4 x 75.7 cm (The British Museum). Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.

Dipylon Amphora, c. 755-750 B.C.E., ceramic, 160 cm (National Archaeological Museum, Athens) Speakers: Dr. Steven Zucker & Dr. Beth Harris. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.

Dying Gaul, 1st or 2nd century C.E. (Roman copy of Third Century B.C.E. Hellenistic bronze commemorating Pergamon's victory over the Gauls likely from the Sanctuary of Athena at Pergamon), marble, 93 cm high (Musei Capitolini, Rome)
and Gaul killing himself and his wife (The Ludovisi Gaul), 1st or 2nd century C.E. (Roman copy of Third Century B.C.E. Hellenistic bronze commemorating Pergamon's victory over the Gauls likely from the Sanctuary of Athena at Pergamon), marble, 211 cm high (Palazzo Altemps, Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome) Drs. Beth Harris and Stevene Zucker

East and West Pediments from the Temple of Aphaia, Aegina, Archaic/Early Classical Periods, c. 490-480 B.C.E. (Glyptothek, Munich) Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris & Dr. Steven Zucker. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.

A new technique unveils ancient colour at the British Museum. © Trustees of the British Museum. Created by British Museum.

Eleusis Amphora (Proto-Attic neck amphora), 675-650 B.C.E., terracotta, 142.3 cm high (Eleusis Archeological Museum, Greece) Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.

The Erechtheion, 421-405 B.C.E. (Classical Greek), Acropolis, Athens. Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker. Created by Steven Zucker and Beth Harris.

These two large Etruscan cemeteries reflect different types of burial practices from the 9th to the 1st century BC, and bear witness to the achievements of Etruscan culture. Which over nine centuries developed the earliest urban civilization in the northern Mediterranean. Some of the tombs are monumental, cut in rock and topped by impressive tumuli (burial mounds). Many feature carvings on their walls, others have wall paintings of outstanding quality. The necropolis near Cerveteri, known as Banditaccia, contains thousands of tombs organized in a city-like plan, with streets, small squares and neighbourhoods. The site contains very different types of tombs: trenches cut in rock; tumuli; and some, also carved in rock, in the shape of huts or houses with a wealth of structural details. These provide the only surviving evidence of Etruscan residential architecture. The necropolis of Tarquinia, also known as Monterozzi, contains 6,000 graves cut in the rock. It is famous for its 200 painted tombs, the earliest of which date from the 7th century BC.

Exekias, Dionysos Kylix, c. 530 B.C.E. (Antikensammlungen, Munich) Speakers: Dr. Steven Zucker & Dr. Beth Harris. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.

A conversation between Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker in front of an Attic black figure amphora by Exekias (potter and painter), archaic period, c. 540-530 B.C.E., 61.1 cm high, found Vulci (Gregorian Etruscan Museum, Vatican). Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.

Frescoes from Akrotiri, on the Cycladic island Thera (Santorini), Greece, 16th century B.C.E., Aegean Bronze Age (National Archaeological Museum, Athens). Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.

Euphronios, Sarpedon Krater, (signed by Euxitheos as potter and Euphronios as painter), c. 515 B.C.E., red-figure terracotta, 55.1 cm diameter (National Museum Cerite, Cerveteri, Italy) Speakers: Dr. Erin Thompson and Dr. Steven Zucker. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.

Grave stele of Hegeso, c. 410 B.C.E., marble and paint, from the Dipylon Cemetary, Athens, 5' 2" (National Archaeological Museum, Athens). Speakers: Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris