June 16, 2016
The decorative relief over the main entrance to Sterling Memorial Library celebrates the great ancient civilizations, from the Assyrians to the Romans. Pictured in this detail are the Mayan serpent, Athenian owl, and Capitoline wolf. To the left is an excerpt from Aeschylus’s “Prometheus Bound,” and to the right is a passage from Emperor Suzong’s eulogy of Yan Zhenqing, a prominent Chinese calligrapher and Tang Dynasty official. Other sections of the relief depict the Egyptian falcon, Phoenician ship, and Assyrian winged bull.
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