The art on the wall in the tomb of Thutmose III gives us a fascinating look into the lives of the ancient Egyptians. Unlike the colorful, carved relief paintings found in many other New Kingdom royal tombs, KV34 is rendered in a minimalist, stick-figure style resembling ink drawings on papyrus.
This image depicts a scene from the Amduat (literally translated as "That Which Is in the Netherworld", also known as the Book of the Hidden Chamber). This specific painting is found on the walls of the burial chamber of Pharaoh Thutmose III. The text acts as an afterlife "roadmap" that charts the 12 nocturnal hours of the sun god Ra's journey through the underworld from sunset to sunrise, mirroring the pharaoh's own path to spiritual rebirth. Everything about it is just stunning.
The image shows the Twelfth Hour of the Amduat painted on the wall of the burial chamber in the Tomb of Thutmose III. This represents the final stage of the sun god Ra's nightly journey through the underworld (netherworld) just before dawn. In the middle/upper registers, the solar barge carrying Ra is towed or travels through the body of a giant serpent. As Ra reaches the end of the underworld and emerges into the eastern horizon, he sheds his nocturnal form and is reborn as Khepri, the morning sun in the form of a scarab beetle, signaling the start of a new day. Surrounding registers feature rows of protective deities, personified hours of the night, and cursive hieroglyphic inscriptions detailing the spells and guidance needed for the pharaoh's eternal resurrection.
Next thing I want to mention is the bust of Queen Nefertiti, one of the most stunning and beautiful ancient artifacts ever discovered. The famous bust of Queen Nefertiti was discovered on December 6, 1912 in Tell el-Amarna (ancient Akhetaten), Egypt, specifically in the ruins of the sculptor's workshop belonging to the chief royal sculptor Thutmose (quadrant P 47.2). She was discovered by a German archaeological team led by German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt, sponsored by the German Oriental Company and James Simon. It is currently housed in the Neues Museum (Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection) in Berlin, Germany. Queen Nefertiti was one of the most powerful and influential queens of ancient Egypt, ruling alongside her husband, Pharaoh Akhenaten, during the 14th century BCE (around 1353–1336 BCE). Her name translates to "a beautiful woman has come." Nefertiti and her husband completely upended traditional Egyptian society by abolishing the worship of the old gods. They established a new, monotheistic religion dedicated exclusively to Aten, the sun disk, and built a brand-new capital city called Akhetaten (modern-day Amarna). She was not just a passive consort. Artistic relief carvings from the period depict Nefertiti in positions of immense authority usually reserved only for pharaohs—such as wearing a pharaoh's crown, driving her own chariot, and smiting Egypt's enemies in battle. Some historians believe that later in her husband's reign, or immediately after his death, Nefertiti assumed even greater power. A prevailing theory suggests she may have ruled Egypt independently under the male pharaoh persona Neferneferuaten or Smenkhkare. She was the Great Royal Wife of Akhenaten and the stepmother (as well as mother-in-law) of the famous boy-king Pharaoh Tutankhamun (King Tut).
Despite her massive historical footprint, her final resting place and mummy have never been definitively found, making her one of the most enigmatic figures in archaeology. This is the famous bust of Queen Nefertiti. It's stunning how life-like it is, I can't imagine having been the archaeologists who discovered her, coming face-to-face with an ancient Egyptian woman that lived over 3,000 years ago.
My goodness, so life-like. I can't imagine having been the archaeologists that first discovered this. It must have given them a serious jolt, it's like being face-to-face with a real, alive ancient Egyptian that lived over 3,000 years ago.
The image shows the rock-cut facade of the Temple of Nefertari (also known as the Small Temple of Abu Simbel or Temple of Hathor) located in Abu Simbel, Upper Egypt. It's a sight to behold, you can see how large these statues are compared to a normal sized person.
Ramses II (Ramses the Great) ruled Egypt from May 31, 1279 BC to August 13, 1213 BC, spanning a remarkably long reign of 66 years as the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty. His tomb is another sight to behold.
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon are one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, described as a remarkable architectural and horticultural marvel featuring tiered, mountain-like stone terraces planted with lush trees, shrubs, and cascading vines. The gardens were designed as a series of high, vaulted stone terraces rising up to 75 feet (23 meters) high, resembling a green oasis or a theater in the middle of an arid landscape. Legend and classical writers report an advanced hydraulic system—using pumps, waterwheels, or screw-like machinery—that lifted water from the nearby Euphrates River to keep the elevated gardens hydrated. They are the only ancient wonder whose physical location has never been definitively confirmed by archaeology. No native Babylonian texts mention them, leading some historians to view them as a myth or a case of mistaken identity. According to ancient Greek and Babylonian writers like Berossus, the Neo-Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II constructed the gardens around 600 BC in the city of Babylon (present-day Iraq) as a gift to comfort his homesick wife, Queen Amytis, who missed the green hills and forests of her native Media (modern-day Iran). Modern scholars, such as Oxford researcher Dr. Stephanie Dalley, argue that the gardens were actually built about 300 miles north in the Assyrian capital of Nineveh by King Sennacherib around 700 BC, pointing to extensive inscriptions about royal gardens and aqueducts there. Historical confusion often arose because later Greek writers used "Babylon" broadly or because Assyrian conquerors adopted Babylonian titles. Here is a beautiful illustration of what the Hanging Gardens of Babylon may have looked like.
The Ishtar Gate was the grand, eighth fortified gateway to the inner city of ancient Babylon (located in present-day Iraq, near Al-Hillah). It was built around 575 BC by order of King Nebuchadnezzar II of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. It was a massive double gate made from brilliant blue-glazed bricks. The surface was decorated with alternating rows of bas-relief figures—including young bulls (representing the storm god Adad) and mushussu dragons (representing the patron god Marduk). The gate opened onto a half-mile-long walled avenue lined with glazed brick lions (associated with the goddess Ishtar). The original front structure stood over 38 to 50 feet high, with foundations extending deep underground. In the early 20th century, German archaeologists led by Robert Koldewey excavated fragments of the gate and transported them to Germany. A monumental reconstruction was assembled using these original pieces and is displayed at the Pergamon Museum (specifically in the Vorderasiatisches Museum) in Berlin.
The ruins of the original gate's lower foundations remain in Babylon, which is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A modern replica was also built near the original location. This image shows a modern replica of the Ishtar Gate located at the ancient archaeological site of Babylon near Hillah, Iraq.
The city of Babylon was founded around 2200–2300 BC, and its major kingdoms and empires spanned from the Old Babylonian period (beginning around 1894 BCE) until its final conquest by the Persian Empire in 539 BCE.
Key Timeline Periods
• Early City (c. 2300–1900 BCE): Originally a minor town along the Euphrates River before rising to prominence.
• Old Babylonian Empire (c. 1894–1595 BCE): Rose as an Amorite-ruled state, reaching its height under King Hammurabi (reigned 1792–1750 BCE), who created a short-lived empire and established his famous law code.
• Kassite Period & Assyrian Domination (c. 1595–626 BCE): Babylon was ruled by the Kassites for centuries, followed by conflicts and periods of control under the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
• Neo-Babylonian Empire (626–539 BCE): The golden age of Babylon, peaking under Nebuchadnezzar II (reigned 604–562 BCE), who built the Ishtar Gate and expanded the city.
• Fall to Persia (539 BCE): The empire fell when Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid Persian Empire conquered the city, though Babylon remained an important regional center for centuries afterward.
These images show an aerial view of the Southern Palace of Nebuchadnezzar II in the ancient city of Babylon, located near Hillah in modern-day Iraq. Situated along the Euphrates River, approximately 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of Baghdad, much of what is visible includes modern reconstructions built over ancient Neo-Babylonian foundations, including extensive restoration work commissioned during the late 20th century. The site sits near areas previously used for military presence during the 2003 Iraq War (Camp Alpha) and was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019.
The image shows the unglazed original brick ruins and bas-relief animal figures of the Ishtar Gate in the ancient city of Babylon, Iraq, photographed around 1932. The original Ishtar gate, sweet.
This historic photograph taken in 1932 shows the early 20th-century excavation of the Ishtar Gate in the ancient city of Babylon (located near modern-day Hillah, Iraq). These photos are just stunning, images of the ruins of the original Ishtar gate, a true wonder of the ancient world. Ancient Babylon was one of the greatest and most fascinating empires in human history.
The Great Gate of Ishtar: A door to wonder
By: Amanda Ruggeri
Ceramic lions, aurochs and dragons decorate the Great Gate of Ishtar
The Great Gate of Ishtar which stood at the entrance to Babylon has inspired awe since the 6th Century BC. Amanda Ruggeri finds out why.
When Antipater of Sidon, the Greek poet of the 2nd Century BC, compiled the seven wonders of the ancient world, only one city claimed two sites: Babylon. Yet the two he listed – the Hanging Gardens and the city’s wall – were just a couple of the many wonders to be found in the magnificent ancient city.
Located between the Tigris and Euphrates in what today is Iraq, Babylon was largely rebuilt by the its king Nebuchadnezzar II in the 6th Century BC, using vibrant glazed bricks in blues, reds and yellows. Ancient texts from Herodotus to the Old Testament describe its overwhelmingly opulent temples, shrines and palaces. At its peak, with more than 200,000 inhabitants, it was the largest metropolis in the world.
Symbolic of all of that splendour was a visitor’s first introduction to the city: the monumental Gate of Ishtar, built in 575 BC out of enamelled bricks, in cobalt blues and sea greens, decorated with reliefs of 575 dragons and bulls. When German archaeologists began excavating the city in 1899, a surprising amount of that millennia-old magnificence remained – including the gate. It was in the century following, however, that much of the ancient city’s magnificence would become most at risk.
Project Babylon
Even before excavations began, head archaeologist Robert Koldewey thought he knew what he would find. Near the city’s castle in June 1887, he wrote, he had come across “brightly coloured fragments” of the enamelled bricks that were believed to have made up the city wall. Two years later, the digging began – and the ancient city began to reveal itself. “The finely coloured fragments made their appearance in great numbers, soon followed by the discovery of the eastern of the two parallel walls, the pavement of the processional roadway, and the western wall, which supplied us with the necessary orientation for further excavations,” he wrote in his 1914 account of the discoveries, The Excavations at Babylon.
In 1902, his archaeologists unearthed the Gate of Ishtar, the most potent symbol of ancient Babylon’s magnificence. The gate was exactly where they expected it to be, marking the entrance to the city at the beginning of the Procession Street, the main thoroughfare used for parades during new years’ celebrations. “With its walls which still stand 12 metres high, covered with brick reliefs, it is the largest and most striking ruin of Babylon,” Koldewey wrote.
In case any doubt remained about the gate’s construction, there was an inscription in limestone in the voice of Nebuchadnezzar: “I placed wild bulls and ferocious dragons in the gateways and thus adorned them with luxurious splendour so that people might gaze on them in wonder.” Now, thanks to Koldewey’s team, the people of a new age could look on the gate in awe. “This particular gate – which was one of eight gates to the city, built in one of its latest and, one would have to say, its most glorious historical phases – really thrilled everybody,” says Peter Machinist, professor at Harvard University’s Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. “Even in antiquity, it already came to be a kind of metonymy for the entire magnificence of the reconstruction of the city of Babylon, which Nebuchadnezzar engineered. And certainly, after it was set up, it became a major tourist attraction.”
After its discovery, it became one again. The German archaeologists excavated as much as they could but when World War One came in 1914, the dig was shut down. Four years later, the conflict came to an end and the Ottoman Empire – Germany’s ally in the war, which ruled the lands where the gate was discovered – collapsed. But the Germans were still able to negotiate with the occupying British forces to ship some of their finds to Berlin, including the Gate of Ishtar. What was put on display in the 1920s was not, and still is not, the entire gate: it was too large. Even so, the section brought the magnificence of ancient Babylon to life in a way that hadn’t happened in thousands of years.
Tale of two tyrants
After World War Two, another large excavation took place, this one led by Italian archaeologists, says Machinist. And then came Saddam Hussein, who took power in 1979. “He got this notion that he was not simply a Sunni Muslim, but the lineal descendant of these Babylonian heroes of the past. So he started to reconstruct the site in the 1980s,” he says. On the ancient foundations, Hussein built copies of the gate and of Nebuchadnezzar’s palace; in the style of the Babylonian king, he included inscriptions about his own work.
An illustration from the early 20th Century depicts Nebuchadnezzar surveying the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The parallel Saddam was trying to make with Nebuchadnezzar was not all that surprising. A military mastermind (or scourge, depending on your perspective), Nebuchadnezzar devastated the Phoenician city of Sidon , defeated Egypt’s armies and, in 587 BC, sacked Jerusalem’s Temple of Solomon; Saddam’s adventures in Kuwait and Iran are well known.
Each time Nebuchadnezzar’s soldiers moved into new territory, they enslaved the population and plundered its treasures. And with his newfound manpower and loot, Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt the Babylonian capital. He finished his father’s palace, built the Hanging Gardens for his wife and build Babylon’s walls, partly out of caution about an old prediction by the 8th Century BC Judean prophet Isaiah that the city would fall.
US and Polish troops used the archaeological site as a base after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, causing extensive damage (Rex Features)
US and Polish troops used the archaeological site as a base after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, causing extensive damage (Rex Features)
But just as ancient Babylon ultimately fell so too would Saddam’s Iraq, causing concern for the conservation of the country’s ancient artefacts. In 2003 and 2004, American and Polish troops turned the area of the ancient city’s archaeological site, including the Gate of Ishtar, Processional Way and Temple of Ninmah, into a military base, complete with helicopter pad. According to a study by the British Museum, the damage was extensive: some 300,000 sq m (4,000 acres) of the archaeological site had been covered with gravel, which also contaminated unexcavated areas; trenches had been dug into archaeological mounds; a heavy vehicle had driven on, and broken the pavement of the Processional Way; nine dragon figures on the Gate of Ishtar – whose foundations with their moulded, animal-decorated bricks remain in Babylon – had been damaged. After some 2,600 years of wars, plunder and neglect, it seemed, the site had met one of its surest enemies.
Today, it is too soon to tell what will happen with the site and its preservation. But in the meantime visitors to Berlin’s Pergamon Museum, which has the gate’s largest section on display, can gaze on it in wonder, just as Nebuchadnezzar intended.
Rocky Graziano (born Thomas Rocco Barbella) grew up as a rough-and-tumble street fighter before becoming a world champion boxer. Raised in extreme poverty in Brooklyn and Manhattan's Lower East Side, he learned to fight for survival at a very young age before he could read or write. His father, a former boxer nicknamed "Fighting Nick Bob," regularly encouraged Rocky and his brothers to box and fight one another around the house. His violent upbringing and delinquent lifestyle led to repeated stints in reform schools, jails, and Catholic protectories as a youth. He would eventually make the transition to boxing and carried his ferocious, brawling style straight into the ring. He is most famous for three brutal, legendary fights against Tony Zale, winning the second bout in 1947 to claim the middleweight championship. He would hold the middleweight title until 1948 when he lost it back to Tony Zale. One of the hardest punchers in boxing history, Graziano is ranked 23rd on The Ring magazine's 100 greatest punchers list for his devastating right hand. His life story inspired the 1955 autobiography and the 1956 film "Somebody Up There Likes Me" starring Paul Newman. Graziano was genuinely one of the most beloved fighters that ever stepped in a ring. Graziano had no trouble explaining his tremendous popularity with the public: ‘All this happens to me because I got a hard, fast right punch, because I’m a mean, wild bastard in the ring and a guy who likes everybody outside the ring.’ To the sportswriters of the 1940s, he was a gift: the most exciting middleweight since Stanley Ketchel, a former New York street hoodlum whose vivid life and brawling style could fill any editorial space as easily as his wars with Tony Zale packed ballparks. Looking back decades later on Graziano’s violent rise to the title, the sportswriter W.C. Heinz called it ‘An event that involved me as did none other among the hundreds I covered in sports.’ Before Down These Mean Streets or Manchild in the Promised Land—and long before his boyhood friend Jake La Motta’s Raging Bull—came perhaps the greatest of the New York street gang memoirs. Somebody Up There Likes Me (1955) is Graziano’s cornily-titled but harrowing survival story, tracing his journey from the East Side slums to the middleweight title by way of numerous protectories, reform schools and prisons. Written with Rowland Barber, the book is fantastically observed, by turns violent, funny and filled with rage, like the Rock himself, and competed for that year’s Pulitzer Prize.” We'll start with the Holy Grail of boxing cards, the elusive 1948 Leaf Gum - Rocky Graziano. I've searched my a$$ off looking for the photo of Graziano that was used for the image on the iconic 48' Leaf and it's just not out there. The closest I can get is the image on his 1952 Quiz Calendario card.
The photo of Rocky Graziano used for the image on the 48' Leaf obviously came from a photo shoot where he was wearing his middleweight title belt. I think this image is from that photo shoot.
1955 Fantomen Comic - Masters of the Ring - Rocky Graziano. This photo was taken by legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick. In 1949, a young Stanley Kubrick—then working as a staff photographer for LOOK Magazine—photographed middleweight boxing champion Rocky Graziano in New York City. Kubrick captured an intimate, candid look at Graziano's life inside and outside the ring, documenting training sessions, family moments (such as eating breakfast at home), and physical portraits, including a famous series of shower shots. This work with prizefighters laid the visual and thematic groundwork for Kubrick's very first film, the 1951 short documentary Day of the Fight, which followed another New York boxer named Walter Cartier.
2011 Ringside Boxing Round One - Turkey Red - Base - Rocky Graziano. This is my favorite Graziano card and it's a shame that I can't find the exact photo that matches up with it. I've practically dug a hole to Chins looking for it and this is as close as I can get.
2023 Historic Autographs - The Mob - Rocky Graziano Underboss. This is one of the most bizarre cards I've ever seen. This series features members of La Cosa Nostra, the mob, and Rocky Graziano was certainly not a made member of the mob, much less the Underboss of a crime family. Although he was friendly with members of the mob because the image on this card was taken from a photo of Graziano with John Franzese Sr. (pictured on the left). For those not familiar with the history of the mob, John "Sonny" Franzese Sr. was a high-ranking Italian-born American mobster and a longtime underboss of the Colombo crime family. Active in organized crime from the late 1930s until the 2000s, he made his money through extortion, loansharking, bookmaking, and racketeering, and associated with celebrities like Frank Sinatra. He was convicted of bank robbery in 1967 (receiving a 50-year sentence and paroled in 1978) and later convicted of extortion and racketeering in 2011 at age 94. His son, John Franzese Jr., became an FBI informant in 2006, wore a wire against him, and testified at his 2010 trial—marking the first time the son of a New York Mafia boss testified against his father. Released from federal prison at age 100 on June 23, 2017, as the oldest inmate in the federal system, John Franzese Sr. died on February 24, 2020, at the age of 103. It should also be noted that Franzese Sr. was the father of former mobster-turned-speaker Michael Franzese. Michael Franzese was a member of the mob and served as a high-ranking caporegime (captain) in the Colombo crime family during the 1980s and later wrote an autobiography about his time in the Colombo crime family. Maybe Historic Autographs meant to put John Franzese Sr. on this card, who knows, but it's bizarre to say the least.
Michael Franzese was formally inducted (made a "made man") into the Colombo family on Halloween night in 1975, alongside his close friend Jimmy Angelino, under the leadership of boss Carmine "The Snake" Persico. He became one of the Mafia's biggest earners in history by masterminding a massive gasoline bootlegging scheme. By evading federal and state excise taxes on wholesale gasoline, his operation generated millions of dollars a week for the Colombo family. At his peak, Fortune magazine ranked him #18 on their list of the "Fifty Most Wealthy and Powerful Mafia Bosses" in 1986. In 1986, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison on conspiracy charges related to his tax fraud operations. While incarcerated, he chose to publicly renounce organized crime and walk away from the Mafia. Because he did not enter the Witness Protection Program and openly defied the omertà (the Mafia code of silence), a contract was put out on his life. Today, he is a well-known motivational speaker, author, and YouTuber, sharing his story of life inside and outside the mob.
A few of my favorite Rocky Graziano photos. Rocky Graziano is shown here outdoors in Ellenville, New York, chopping wood with an axe during training for his middleweight title bout against Tony Zale, while his trainer Cocoa sits on a log smoking a cigar and holding a rifle.
The brutal power of Rocky Graziano. The image shows Graziano standing in a neutral corner after knocking down world welterweight champion Marty Servo during their 1946 match at Madison Square Garden. Graziano won by technical knockout (TKO) in the second round after dropping Servo multiple times.
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The art on the wall in the tomb of Thutmose III gives us a fascinating look into the lives of the ancient Egyptians. Unlike the colorful, carved relief paintings found in many other New Kingdom royal tombs, KV34 is rendered in a minimalist, stick-figure style resembling ink drawings on papyrus.
This image depicts a scene from the Amduat (literally translated as "That Which Is in the Netherworld", also known as the Book of the Hidden Chamber). This specific painting is found on the walls of the burial chamber of Pharaoh Thutmose III. The text acts as an afterlife "roadmap" that charts the 12 nocturnal hours of the sun god Ra's journey through the underworld from sunset to sunrise, mirroring the pharaoh's own path to spiritual rebirth. Everything about it is just stunning.
The image shows the Twelfth Hour of the Amduat painted on the wall of the burial chamber in the Tomb of Thutmose III. This represents the final stage of the sun god Ra's nightly journey through the underworld (netherworld) just before dawn. In the middle/upper registers, the solar barge carrying Ra is towed or travels through the body of a giant serpent. As Ra reaches the end of the underworld and emerges into the eastern horizon, he sheds his nocturnal form and is reborn as Khepri, the morning sun in the form of a scarab beetle, signaling the start of a new day. Surrounding registers feature rows of protective deities, personified hours of the night, and cursive hieroglyphic inscriptions detailing the spells and guidance needed for the pharaoh's eternal resurrection.
Next thing I want to mention is the bust of Queen Nefertiti, one of the most stunning and beautiful ancient artifacts ever discovered. The famous bust of Queen Nefertiti was discovered on December 6, 1912 in Tell el-Amarna (ancient Akhetaten), Egypt, specifically in the ruins of the sculptor's workshop belonging to the chief royal sculptor Thutmose (quadrant P 47.2). She was discovered by a German archaeological team led by German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt, sponsored by the German Oriental Company and James Simon. It is currently housed in the Neues Museum (Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection) in Berlin, Germany. Queen Nefertiti was one of the most powerful and influential queens of ancient Egypt, ruling alongside her husband, Pharaoh Akhenaten, during the 14th century BCE (around 1353–1336 BCE). Her name translates to "a beautiful woman has come." Nefertiti and her husband completely upended traditional Egyptian society by abolishing the worship of the old gods. They established a new, monotheistic religion dedicated exclusively to Aten, the sun disk, and built a brand-new capital city called Akhetaten (modern-day Amarna). She was not just a passive consort. Artistic relief carvings from the period depict Nefertiti in positions of immense authority usually reserved only for pharaohs—such as wearing a pharaoh's crown, driving her own chariot, and smiting Egypt's enemies in battle. Some historians believe that later in her husband's reign, or immediately after his death, Nefertiti assumed even greater power. A prevailing theory suggests she may have ruled Egypt independently under the male pharaoh persona Neferneferuaten or Smenkhkare. She was the Great Royal Wife of Akhenaten and the stepmother (as well as mother-in-law) of the famous boy-king Pharaoh Tutankhamun (King Tut).
Despite her massive historical footprint, her final resting place and mummy have never been definitively found, making her one of the most enigmatic figures in archaeology. This is the famous bust of Queen Nefertiti. It's stunning how life-like it is, I can't imagine having been the archaeologists who discovered her, coming face-to-face with an ancient Egyptian woman that lived over 3,000 years ago.
Look at her face, her eye, she looks alive. It's just absolutely breathtaking. My God.
I need a break for a minute, the ocean always relaxes me.
My goodness, so life-like. I can't imagine having been the archaeologists that first discovered this. It must have given them a serious jolt, it's like being face-to-face with a real, alive ancient Egyptian that lived over 3,000 years ago.
Epic image.
This is an actual photo taken after the discovery of the Queen Nefertiti bust on December 6, 1912 in Tell el-Amarna (ancient Akhetaten), Egypt.
Uh-oh, we got a little spat going on.
The image shows the rock-cut facade of the Temple of Nefertari (also known as the Small Temple of Abu Simbel or Temple of Hathor) located in Abu Simbel, Upper Egypt. It's a sight to behold, you can see how large these statues are compared to a normal sized person.
Ramses II (Ramses the Great) ruled Egypt from May 31, 1279 BC to August 13, 1213 BC, spanning a remarkably long reign of 66 years as the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty. His tomb is another sight to behold.
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon are one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, described as a remarkable architectural and horticultural marvel featuring tiered, mountain-like stone terraces planted with lush trees, shrubs, and cascading vines. The gardens were designed as a series of high, vaulted stone terraces rising up to 75 feet (23 meters) high, resembling a green oasis or a theater in the middle of an arid landscape. Legend and classical writers report an advanced hydraulic system—using pumps, waterwheels, or screw-like machinery—that lifted water from the nearby Euphrates River to keep the elevated gardens hydrated. They are the only ancient wonder whose physical location has never been definitively confirmed by archaeology. No native Babylonian texts mention them, leading some historians to view them as a myth or a case of mistaken identity. According to ancient Greek and Babylonian writers like Berossus, the Neo-Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II constructed the gardens around 600 BC in the city of Babylon (present-day Iraq) as a gift to comfort his homesick wife, Queen Amytis, who missed the green hills and forests of her native Media (modern-day Iran). Modern scholars, such as Oxford researcher Dr. Stephanie Dalley, argue that the gardens were actually built about 300 miles north in the Assyrian capital of Nineveh by King Sennacherib around 700 BC, pointing to extensive inscriptions about royal gardens and aqueducts there. Historical confusion often arose because later Greek writers used "Babylon" broadly or because Assyrian conquerors adopted Babylonian titles. Here is a beautiful illustration of what the Hanging Gardens of Babylon may have looked like.
The Ishtar Gate was the grand, eighth fortified gateway to the inner city of ancient Babylon (located in present-day Iraq, near Al-Hillah). It was built around 575 BC by order of King Nebuchadnezzar II of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. It was a massive double gate made from brilliant blue-glazed bricks. The surface was decorated with alternating rows of bas-relief figures—including young bulls (representing the storm god Adad) and mushussu dragons (representing the patron god Marduk). The gate opened onto a half-mile-long walled avenue lined with glazed brick lions (associated with the goddess Ishtar). The original front structure stood over 38 to 50 feet high, with foundations extending deep underground. In the early 20th century, German archaeologists led by Robert Koldewey excavated fragments of the gate and transported them to Germany. A monumental reconstruction was assembled using these original pieces and is displayed at the Pergamon Museum (specifically in the Vorderasiatisches Museum) in Berlin.
The ruins of the original gate's lower foundations remain in Babylon, which is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A modern replica was also built near the original location. This image shows a modern replica of the Ishtar Gate located at the ancient archaeological site of Babylon near Hillah, Iraq.
Nice shot of the Ishtar gate in Babylon at night.
Illustrations of what the Ishtar gate was believed to look like in it's prime.
The city of Babylon was founded around 2200–2300 BC, and its major kingdoms and empires spanned from the Old Babylonian period (beginning around 1894 BCE) until its final conquest by the Persian Empire in 539 BCE.
Key Timeline Periods
• Early City (c. 2300–1900 BCE): Originally a minor town along the Euphrates River before rising to prominence.
• Old Babylonian Empire (c. 1894–1595 BCE): Rose as an Amorite-ruled state, reaching its height under King Hammurabi (reigned 1792–1750 BCE), who created a short-lived empire and established his famous law code.
• Kassite Period & Assyrian Domination (c. 1595–626 BCE): Babylon was ruled by the Kassites for centuries, followed by conflicts and periods of control under the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
• Neo-Babylonian Empire (626–539 BCE): The golden age of Babylon, peaking under Nebuchadnezzar II (reigned 604–562 BCE), who built the Ishtar Gate and expanded the city.
• Fall to Persia (539 BCE): The empire fell when Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid Persian Empire conquered the city, though Babylon remained an important regional center for centuries afterward.
These images show an aerial view of the Southern Palace of Nebuchadnezzar II in the ancient city of Babylon, located near Hillah in modern-day Iraq. Situated along the Euphrates River, approximately 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of Baghdad, much of what is visible includes modern reconstructions built over ancient Neo-Babylonian foundations, including extensive restoration work commissioned during the late 20th century. The site sits near areas previously used for military presence during the 2003 Iraq War (Camp Alpha) and was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019.
The image shows the unglazed original brick ruins and bas-relief animal figures of the Ishtar Gate in the ancient city of Babylon, Iraq, photographed around 1932. The original Ishtar gate, sweet.
This historic photograph taken in 1932 shows the early 20th-century excavation of the Ishtar Gate in the ancient city of Babylon (located near modern-day Hillah, Iraq). These photos are just stunning, images of the ruins of the original Ishtar gate, a true wonder of the ancient world. Ancient Babylon was one of the greatest and most fascinating empires in human history.
The Great Gate of Ishtar: A door to wonder
By: Amanda Ruggeri
Ceramic lions, aurochs and dragons decorate the Great Gate of Ishtar
The Great Gate of Ishtar which stood at the entrance to Babylon has inspired awe since the 6th Century BC. Amanda Ruggeri finds out why.
When Antipater of Sidon, the Greek poet of the 2nd Century BC, compiled the seven wonders of the ancient world, only one city claimed two sites: Babylon. Yet the two he listed – the Hanging Gardens and the city’s wall – were just a couple of the many wonders to be found in the magnificent ancient city.
Located between the Tigris and Euphrates in what today is Iraq, Babylon was largely rebuilt by the its king Nebuchadnezzar II in the 6th Century BC, using vibrant glazed bricks in blues, reds and yellows. Ancient texts from Herodotus to the Old Testament describe its overwhelmingly opulent temples, shrines and palaces. At its peak, with more than 200,000 inhabitants, it was the largest metropolis in the world.
Symbolic of all of that splendour was a visitor’s first introduction to the city: the monumental Gate of Ishtar, built in 575 BC out of enamelled bricks, in cobalt blues and sea greens, decorated with reliefs of 575 dragons and bulls. When German archaeologists began excavating the city in 1899, a surprising amount of that millennia-old magnificence remained – including the gate. It was in the century following, however, that much of the ancient city’s magnificence would become most at risk.
Project Babylon
Even before excavations began, head archaeologist Robert Koldewey thought he knew what he would find. Near the city’s castle in June 1887, he wrote, he had come across “brightly coloured fragments” of the enamelled bricks that were believed to have made up the city wall. Two years later, the digging began – and the ancient city began to reveal itself. “The finely coloured fragments made their appearance in great numbers, soon followed by the discovery of the eastern of the two parallel walls, the pavement of the processional roadway, and the western wall, which supplied us with the necessary orientation for further excavations,” he wrote in his 1914 account of the discoveries, The Excavations at Babylon.
In 1902, his archaeologists unearthed the Gate of Ishtar, the most potent symbol of ancient Babylon’s magnificence. The gate was exactly where they expected it to be, marking the entrance to the city at the beginning of the Procession Street, the main thoroughfare used for parades during new years’ celebrations. “With its walls which still stand 12 metres high, covered with brick reliefs, it is the largest and most striking ruin of Babylon,” Koldewey wrote.
In case any doubt remained about the gate’s construction, there was an inscription in limestone in the voice of Nebuchadnezzar: “I placed wild bulls and ferocious dragons in the gateways and thus adorned them with luxurious splendour so that people might gaze on them in wonder.” Now, thanks to Koldewey’s team, the people of a new age could look on the gate in awe. “This particular gate – which was one of eight gates to the city, built in one of its latest and, one would have to say, its most glorious historical phases – really thrilled everybody,” says Peter Machinist, professor at Harvard University’s Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. “Even in antiquity, it already came to be a kind of metonymy for the entire magnificence of the reconstruction of the city of Babylon, which Nebuchadnezzar engineered. And certainly, after it was set up, it became a major tourist attraction.”
After its discovery, it became one again. The German archaeologists excavated as much as they could but when World War One came in 1914, the dig was shut down. Four years later, the conflict came to an end and the Ottoman Empire – Germany’s ally in the war, which ruled the lands where the gate was discovered – collapsed. But the Germans were still able to negotiate with the occupying British forces to ship some of their finds to Berlin, including the Gate of Ishtar. What was put on display in the 1920s was not, and still is not, the entire gate: it was too large. Even so, the section brought the magnificence of ancient Babylon to life in a way that hadn’t happened in thousands of years.
Tale of two tyrants
After World War Two, another large excavation took place, this one led by Italian archaeologists, says Machinist. And then came Saddam Hussein, who took power in 1979. “He got this notion that he was not simply a Sunni Muslim, but the lineal descendant of these Babylonian heroes of the past. So he started to reconstruct the site in the 1980s,” he says. On the ancient foundations, Hussein built copies of the gate and of Nebuchadnezzar’s palace; in the style of the Babylonian king, he included inscriptions about his own work.
An illustration from the early 20th Century depicts Nebuchadnezzar surveying the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The parallel Saddam was trying to make with Nebuchadnezzar was not all that surprising. A military mastermind (or scourge, depending on your perspective), Nebuchadnezzar devastated the Phoenician city of Sidon , defeated Egypt’s armies and, in 587 BC, sacked Jerusalem’s Temple of Solomon; Saddam’s adventures in Kuwait and Iran are well known.
Each time Nebuchadnezzar’s soldiers moved into new territory, they enslaved the population and plundered its treasures. And with his newfound manpower and loot, Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt the Babylonian capital. He finished his father’s palace, built the Hanging Gardens for his wife and build Babylon’s walls, partly out of caution about an old prediction by the 8th Century BC Judean prophet Isaiah that the city would fall.
US and Polish troops used the archaeological site as a base after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, causing extensive damage (Rex Features)
US and Polish troops used the archaeological site as a base after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, causing extensive damage (Rex Features)
But just as ancient Babylon ultimately fell so too would Saddam’s Iraq, causing concern for the conservation of the country’s ancient artefacts. In 2003 and 2004, American and Polish troops turned the area of the ancient city’s archaeological site, including the Gate of Ishtar, Processional Way and Temple of Ninmah, into a military base, complete with helicopter pad. According to a study by the British Museum, the damage was extensive: some 300,000 sq m (4,000 acres) of the archaeological site had been covered with gravel, which also contaminated unexcavated areas; trenches had been dug into archaeological mounds; a heavy vehicle had driven on, and broken the pavement of the Processional Way; nine dragon figures on the Gate of Ishtar – whose foundations with their moulded, animal-decorated bricks remain in Babylon – had been damaged. After some 2,600 years of wars, plunder and neglect, it seemed, the site had met one of its surest enemies.
Today, it is too soon to tell what will happen with the site and its preservation. But in the meantime visitors to Berlin’s Pergamon Museum, which has the gate’s largest section on display, can gaze on it in wonder, just as Nebuchadnezzar intended.
Dang, the final boss on Castlevania IV for SNES is kicking my tail up and down the street. I need this music break.
Rocky Graziano (born Thomas Rocco Barbella) grew up as a rough-and-tumble street fighter before becoming a world champion boxer. Raised in extreme poverty in Brooklyn and Manhattan's Lower East Side, he learned to fight for survival at a very young age before he could read or write. His father, a former boxer nicknamed "Fighting Nick Bob," regularly encouraged Rocky and his brothers to box and fight one another around the house. His violent upbringing and delinquent lifestyle led to repeated stints in reform schools, jails, and Catholic protectories as a youth. He would eventually make the transition to boxing and carried his ferocious, brawling style straight into the ring. He is most famous for three brutal, legendary fights against Tony Zale, winning the second bout in 1947 to claim the middleweight championship. He would hold the middleweight title until 1948 when he lost it back to Tony Zale. One of the hardest punchers in boxing history, Graziano is ranked 23rd on The Ring magazine's 100 greatest punchers list for his devastating right hand. His life story inspired the 1955 autobiography and the 1956 film "Somebody Up There Likes Me" starring Paul Newman. Graziano was genuinely one of the most beloved fighters that ever stepped in a ring. Graziano had no trouble explaining his tremendous popularity with the public: ‘All this happens to me because I got a hard, fast right punch, because I’m a mean, wild bastard in the ring and a guy who likes everybody outside the ring.’ To the sportswriters of the 1940s, he was a gift: the most exciting middleweight since Stanley Ketchel, a former New York street hoodlum whose vivid life and brawling style could fill any editorial space as easily as his wars with Tony Zale packed ballparks. Looking back decades later on Graziano’s violent rise to the title, the sportswriter W.C. Heinz called it ‘An event that involved me as did none other among the hundreds I covered in sports.’ Before Down These Mean Streets or Manchild in the Promised Land—and long before his boyhood friend Jake La Motta’s Raging Bull—came perhaps the greatest of the New York street gang memoirs. Somebody Up There Likes Me (1955) is Graziano’s cornily-titled but harrowing survival story, tracing his journey from the East Side slums to the middleweight title by way of numerous protectories, reform schools and prisons. Written with Rowland Barber, the book is fantastically observed, by turns violent, funny and filled with rage, like the Rock himself, and competed for that year’s Pulitzer Prize.” We'll start with the Holy Grail of boxing cards, the elusive 1948 Leaf Gum - Rocky Graziano. I've searched my a$$ off looking for the photo of Graziano that was used for the image on the iconic 48' Leaf and it's just not out there. The closest I can get is the image on his 1952 Quiz Calendario card.
The photo of Rocky Graziano used for the image on the 48' Leaf obviously came from a photo shoot where he was wearing his middleweight title belt. I think this image is from that photo shoot.
This is the 1952 Quiz Calendario - Rocky Graziano.
1968 Mira Tuttosport - Rocky Graziano.
1955 Fantomen Comic - Masters of the Ring - Rocky Graziano. This photo was taken by legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick. In 1949, a young Stanley Kubrick—then working as a staff photographer for LOOK Magazine—photographed middleweight boxing champion Rocky Graziano in New York City. Kubrick captured an intimate, candid look at Graziano's life inside and outside the ring, documenting training sessions, family moments (such as eating breakfast at home), and physical portraits, including a famous series of shower shots. This work with prizefighters laid the visual and thematic groundwork for Kubrick's very first film, the 1951 short documentary Day of the Fight, which followed another New York boxer named Walter Cartier.
1952-54 Lasso Samlaralbum Rocky Graziano.
1940-70 Boxing News Photos - Postcard Back - Rocky Graziano.
1991 Victoria Gallery - Blue Back - Rocky Graziano.
1991 All World - Rocky Graziano.
2011 Ringside Boxing Round One - Turkey Red - Base - Rocky Graziano. This is my favorite Graziano card and it's a shame that I can't find the exact photo that matches up with it. I've practically dug a hole to Chins looking for it and this is as close as I can get.
2011 Ringside Boxing Round One - Turkey Red - Base - Rocky Graziano.
2023 Historic Autographs - The Mob - Rocky Graziano Underboss. This is one of the most bizarre cards I've ever seen. This series features members of La Cosa Nostra, the mob, and Rocky Graziano was certainly not a made member of the mob, much less the Underboss of a crime family. Although he was friendly with members of the mob because the image on this card was taken from a photo of Graziano with John Franzese Sr. (pictured on the left). For those not familiar with the history of the mob, John "Sonny" Franzese Sr. was a high-ranking Italian-born American mobster and a longtime underboss of the Colombo crime family. Active in organized crime from the late 1930s until the 2000s, he made his money through extortion, loansharking, bookmaking, and racketeering, and associated with celebrities like Frank Sinatra. He was convicted of bank robbery in 1967 (receiving a 50-year sentence and paroled in 1978) and later convicted of extortion and racketeering in 2011 at age 94. His son, John Franzese Jr., became an FBI informant in 2006, wore a wire against him, and testified at his 2010 trial—marking the first time the son of a New York Mafia boss testified against his father. Released from federal prison at age 100 on June 23, 2017, as the oldest inmate in the federal system, John Franzese Sr. died on February 24, 2020, at the age of 103. It should also be noted that Franzese Sr. was the father of former mobster-turned-speaker Michael Franzese. Michael Franzese was a member of the mob and served as a high-ranking caporegime (captain) in the Colombo crime family during the 1980s and later wrote an autobiography about his time in the Colombo crime family. Maybe Historic Autographs meant to put John Franzese Sr. on this card, who knows, but it's bizarre to say the least.
Michael Franzese was formally inducted (made a "made man") into the Colombo family on Halloween night in 1975, alongside his close friend Jimmy Angelino, under the leadership of boss Carmine "The Snake" Persico. He became one of the Mafia's biggest earners in history by masterminding a massive gasoline bootlegging scheme. By evading federal and state excise taxes on wholesale gasoline, his operation generated millions of dollars a week for the Colombo family. At his peak, Fortune magazine ranked him #18 on their list of the "Fifty Most Wealthy and Powerful Mafia Bosses" in 1986. In 1986, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison on conspiracy charges related to his tax fraud operations. While incarcerated, he chose to publicly renounce organized crime and walk away from the Mafia. Because he did not enter the Witness Protection Program and openly defied the omertà (the Mafia code of silence), a contract was put out on his life. Today, he is a well-known motivational speaker, author, and YouTuber, sharing his story of life inside and outside the mob.
2002 JF Sporting Collectibles - Boxing - America's Greatest #/30 - Rocky Graziano.
2018 Edward Vela Art Cards - Rocky Graziano. Another Stanley Kubrick photo taken in 1949.
2019 Edward Vela Art Cards - Rocky Graziano.
A few of my favorite Rocky Graziano photos. Rocky Graziano is shown here outdoors in Ellenville, New York, chopping wood with an axe during training for his middleweight title bout against Tony Zale, while his trainer Cocoa sits on a log smoking a cigar and holding a rifle.
The brutal power of Rocky Graziano. The image shows Graziano standing in a neutral corner after knocking down world welterweight champion Marty Servo during their 1946 match at Madison Square Garden. Graziano won by technical knockout (TKO) in the second round after dropping Servo multiple times.
Rocky Graziano knocks out Tony Zale in 1948 to win the world middleweight title.