ancientpeople

People from Antiquity

	Title: Nero Medium: Oil on canvas Size: 61 x 50 cm Date: 2006 Character information: Roman emperor from 54, he was a model of sovereign until AD 95, when he put his mother to death. He did the same to his wife, Octavia, in 62. Fancying himself an artist and an actor, he also became obsessed with the novel religious cults. His court's extravagance necessitated heavy exactions from the provinces, provoking unrest and making enemies for Nero outside the city; and his bizarre private and public actions alienated powerful Romans. Revolts broke out, and the Senate condemned Nero to death.
	Title: Caligula Medium: Oil on canvas Size: 61 x 50 cm Date: 2005 Character information: (b. Aug. 31, AD 12, Antium - d. Jan. 24, AD 41, Rome) Roman emperor from 37 to 41, in succession to Tiberius; although he was widely popular at his ascension, he squandered Tiberius' treasury and eventually lost almost all public support. Accounts of his reign by ancient historians are so biased against him that it is difficult to make a balanced evaluation.
	Title: Julius Caesar in Pergamon. Medium: Oil on canvas. Size: 130 x 130 cm. Date: 2004. Character information: In 75 BC,: while sailing to Greece for further study, Caesar was kidnaped by Cilician pirates and held for ransom. When informed that they intended to ask for 20 talents, he is supposed to have insisted that he was worth at least 50. He maintained a friendly, joking relationship with the pirates while the money was being raised, but warned them that he would track them down and have them crucified after he was released. He did just that, with the help of volunteers, as a warning to other pirates, but he first cut their throats to lessen their suffering because they had treated him well.
	Title: Queen of Sheba. Medium: Oil on canvas. Size: 92 x 73 cm. Date: 2004. Character information: (fl. 10th century BC), according to tradition ruled the Kingdom of Saba' in pre-Islamic southwest Arabia. In the Old Testament account of the sumptuous reign of the Jewish king Solomon, she visited his court and was astounded by his magnificence.
	Title: Olympias. Medium: Oil on canvas. Size: 100 x 81 cm. Date: 2004. Character information: (b. c. 375 - d. 316 BC), wife of Philip II of Macedonia and mother of Alexander the Great. She played important roles in the power struggles that followed the deaths of both rulers.
	Title: Mentuhotep II. Medium: Oil on canvas. Size: 73 x 92 cm. Date: 2004. Character information: Also called Nebhapetre, king of Egypt's 11th dynasty (ruled 2008–1957 BC) who, starting as the ruler of southernmost Egypt in about 2008, reunified the country by defeating his rivals and ushered in the period known as the Middle Kingdom.
	Title: Roman patrician. Medium: Oil on canvas. Size: 65 x 54 cm. Date: 2003. Character information: This painting is a portrait of a marble sculpture of an unknown woman from around 90 A.D., during the Flavian period of the Roman Empire.
	Title: Imhotep. Medium: Oil on canvas. Size: 100 x 81 cm Date: 2003 Character information: (fl. 27th century BC, Memphis, Egypt), vizier, sage, architect, astrologer, and chief minister to Djoser (c.2686 - c. 2613 BC), the second king of Egypt's third dynasty, was later worshipped as the god of medicine in Egypt and in Greece, where he was identified with the Greek god of medicine Asclepius. Considered the designer of the first temple of Edfu, he is credited with iniciating the Old Kingdom (c. 2686 - c. 2160 BC) as the architect of the step pyramid built at the necropolis of Saqqarah in the city of Memphis.
	Title: Ashurbanipal Medium: Oil on Canvas Size: 130 x 130 cm Date: 2003 Character information: Last of the great kings of Assyria (reigned 668 to c. 627 BC), who assembled in Nineveh the first systematically organized library in the Ancient Near East, which contained more than 20,000 tablets.
	Title: Sargon Medium: Oil on canvas Size: 100 x 81 cm Date: 2003 Character information: Sargon of Akkad, ancient Mesopotamian ruler (reigned c. 2334-2279 BC), one of the earliest of the worlds's great empire builders. He established the region's first Semitic dynasty, which left a lasting impression on Mesopotamian culture, and was considered the founder of the Mesopotamian military tradition.
	Title: Tiberius and Livia Medium: Oil on canvas Size: 162 x 130 cm Date: 2002 Characters Information: *Tiberius* (b. Nov. 16, 42 BC, Rome - d. March 16, AD 37, Capri) was a Roman emperor who greatly strenghtened the institution of the principate but was vilified as a vicious tyrant by Roman historians. *Livia Drusila* (b. Jan. 30, 58 BC - d. AD 29) was Augustus' devoted and influential wife, who successfully counselled him on affairs of state and who, in her efforts to secure the imperial succession for her son Tiberius, is reputed to have caused the deaths of many of his rivals.
	Title: Zenobia. Medium: Oil on canvas Size: 73 x 60 cm Date: 2002 Character Information: Queen of the Roman colony of Palmyra (d. after AD 274) from 267 or 268 to 272; she conquered several of Rome's eastern provinces before she was subjugated by the emperor Aurelian.
	Title: Ku-baba Medium: Oil on canvas Size: 73 x 60 cm Date: 2002 Character Information: Queen of Kish (BC 2500) According to the earliest Sumerian records, she was originally a tavern keeper, she became the leader of the Mesopotamian City State's war for independence from Uruk. She was later deified, and worshipped in Northern Iraq as the goddess Kubaba.
	Title: Cleopatra. Medium: Oil on canvas. Size: 73 x 60 cm. Date: 2001. Character Information: Egyptian queen (b. 69 BC, Egypt-d. 30 BC, Alexandria), famous as a femme fatale in history and drama, influenced Roman history through her love affairs with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. Her lack of beauty was replaced by her extraordinary seduction skills.
	Title: Nefertiti Medium: Oil on canvas Size: 162 x 65,5 cm. Date: 2000. Character Information: Queen of Egypt and wife of King Akhenaton (ruled 1379-62 BC) who supported her husband's religious revolution and is thought by some to have adhered to the new cult of the sun god Aton even after the King began to compromise with the upholders of the old order.
	Title: Nefertiti and Meryaton Medium: Oil on canvas Size: 81 x 100 cm. Date: 2001. Character Information: Queen Nefertiti and one of her daughters, Meryaton.
	Title: Khufu Medium: Oil on canvas Size: 73 x 60 cm. Date: 2000. Character Information: Second king of the 4th dynasty (c. 2613-c. 2494 BC) of Egypt and builder of the Great Pyramid at Giza, the largest single building ever erected. His reign and that of his son Khafre are said to have been 106 years of oppression and misery. But this was belied by Khufu's posthumous reputation in Egypt as a wise ruler.
	Title: Hypatia. Medium: Oil on canvas. Size: 130 x 162 cm. Date: 2000. Character Information: Neoplatonist philosopher (b. c. AD 370, Alexandria, Egypt - d. March 415, Alexandria) who was the first notable woman in mathematics. She became the recognized head of the Neoplatonist school of philosophy at Alexandria, and her eloquence, rare modesty, and beauty, combined with her remarkable intellectual gifts, attracted a large number of pupils. Hypatia was barbarously murdered by Christians.
	Title: Hatshepsut. Medium: Oil on canvas. Size: 92 x 73 cm. Date: 2000. Character Information: Queen of Egypt (reigned 1503-1482 BC) who attained unprecedented power for a queen, adopting the full titles and regalia of a pharaoh and ruling the country effectively for approximately 21 years.
	Title: Roman Emperors. Medium: Oil on canvas. Size: 130 x130 cm. Date: 2000. Character Information: From left to right: Caracalla (188-217 AD; ruled 211-217 AD), Vespasian (9-79 AD; ruled 65-79 AD), Hadrian (Italica, 76-138 AD; ruled 117-138 AD), and Augustus (Rome, 63 BC - Nola, 14 AD; ruled 27 BC -14 AD).
	Title: Ur-Nanshe. Medium: Oil on canvas. Size: 100 x 81 cm. Date: 2001. Character Information: First king of the Sumerian city of Lagash (2494-65 BC).
	Title: Ur-Shulgi. Medium: Oil on canvas. Size: 130 x 195 cm. Date: 2001. Character Information: King of the V dinasty of Ur (2094-47 a.C.). The ziggurat of Ur was built under his rule.
	Title: Gilgamesh. Medium: Oil on canvas. Size: 100 x 81 cm. Date: 2000. Character Information: King of the Mesopotamian city of Uruk (III millennium BC), who also appears on the Epic of Gilgamesh (Sumerian literary composition where the king's worries before death and his attempt to find out the other world are told) as an Assirian hero.
	Title: Menes. Medium: Oil on canvas. Size: 114 x 146 cm. Date: 2001. Character Information: Egyptian king (c. 3100 BC) who, according to tradition, joined Upper and Lower Egypt in a single, centralized monarchy by war and administrative measures.
	Title: Arganthonius Medium: Oil on canvas Size: 100 x 81 cm. Date: 2001. Character Information: Monarch who reigned over the Tartessians for eighty years (c. 6th century BC), and lived to be a hundred and twenty years old.
	Title: Alexander the Great Medium: Oil on canvas Size: 120 x 120 cm. Date: 2001. Character Information: (b. 356 BC, Pella, Macedonia - d. June 13, 323 BC, Babylon) King of Macedonia, was one of the greatest generals the world has ever known. He carried Macedonian arms to India and laid the foundations for the Hellenistic world of territorial kingdoms, becoming a legendary hero in the process.