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Ancient art teaches us about past religions (which still affect our modern religions) and the horrors of ancient warcraft. Rameses II’s monument celebrating his battle against the Hittites (see Chapter 6) and Trajan’s Column (see Chapter 8), which depicts the Emperor Trajan’s conquest of Dacia (modern-day Romania), are enduring eyewitness accounts of ancient battles that shaped nations and determined the languages we speak today.

Art isn’t just limited to paintings and sculptures. Architecture, another form of art, reveals the way men and women responded to and survived in their environment, as well as how they defined and defended themselves. Did they build impregnable walls around their cities? Did they raise monuments to their own egos like many Egyptian pharaohs (see Chapter 6)? Did they erect temples to honor their gods or celebrate the glory of their civilizations like the Greeks (see Chapter 7)? Or did they show off their power through awe-inspiring architecture to intimidate their enemies like the Romans (see Chapter 8)?