ASIA

Olkhon (2) (3) by Vat Vjacheslav

Via Flickr:

Kinh; necklace from Vietnam; early 20th century

‼️CONTROVERSIAL FIGURE‼️

“She is a Japanese politician who has served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party since October 2025. She is the first woman to hold either of these positions. A member of the House of Representatives from 1993 to 2003 and since 2005, she also held several ministerial posts during the premierships of Shinzo Abe and Fumio Kishida. Takaichi's views have been described as conservative or ultraconservative. Her domestic policy includes support for proactive government spending and continuing Abenomics. She has taken conservative positions on social issues, such as opposition to same-sex marriage, to the recognition of separate surnames for spouses, and to female succession to the Japanese throne. She supports revising Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan, which renounces the use of military force, a pro-Taiwanese foreign policy, and strengthening the US–Japan alliance. A member of Nippon Kaigi, she has been described as holding revisionist views of Japan's conduct during the Second World War, and criticized the Murayama and Kono statements. She has made regular visits to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine.”

Shirt made of abaca (Manila hemp)

Mindanao Island

Nabataean sculpture of Atargatis, from Khirbet et-Tannur, Mount Tannur, in today's Jordan, c. 100 CE. Jordan Archaeological Museum

Atargatis (known to the Greeks as Derceto) was the principal goddess of northern Syria in Classical antiquity, although her worship is also attested among the Nabataeans in present-day Jordan. Revered primarily as a goddess of fertility, she also served as the baalat (“mistress”) of her people, embodying both civic guardianship and prosperity. Her most important cult centre stood at Hierapolis Bambyce, near present-day Manbij, northeast of Aleppo.

The historian Michael Rostovtzeff referred to her as “the great mistress of the North Syrian lands.” She was commonly associated with the storm god Hadad as her consort. Under the name Ataratheh, both doves and fish were sacred to her—doves symbolizing love and fish representing fertility, abundance, and the life-giving powers of water.

A third-century Syriac source notes that in Syria and Edessa (Urhâi), men once practiced ritual castration in her honor. According to the account, after King Abgar converted to Christianity, he prohibited the custom, bringing the practice to an end in Edessa.

Atargatis is also sometimes depicted as a mermaid-like deity, reflecting her association with a fish-bodied goddess worshipped at Ashkelon.

New article online!  Beer has been part of our diet quite literally since the dawn of history. As soon as writing was invented in the land of the Tigris and Euphrates, our sources testify to the widespread production and distribution of this alcoholic beverage. Breweries continued to operate throughout the entire length of Ancient Mesopotamia’s rich and long history. Initially barley-based, dates became the central component in crafting beer at the turn of the first millennium BCE. This article wishes to shed some light on the beer, beer culture, and beer enterprises of Babylonia, with particular attention to the 1st millennium BCE, drawing on the rich source material left by the various Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid archives from Ancient Iraq.

Panel from the Tomb of Anjia showing a Sogdian trader (right), who is shown welcoming a Turkic leader (left, with long hair combed in the back), 579 CE, Xi'an, China. The Tomb of An Jia (also read An Qie), discovered in Xi'an, is a remarkably well-preserved Northern Zhou (557–581 CE) Sogdian burial monument dating to 579 CE. Built in the style of Chinese noble tombs, it featured a stone gate and an elaborately carved stone couch at the end of an 8.1-meter passage. The tomb’s artwork—56 carved scenes—depicts the life of the Sogdian noble An Jia, including banquets, hunting, travel, and entertainment, blending Central Asian themes with Chinese funerary architecture.

Notable features include Zoroastrian imagery on the tomb gate and unusual burial practices: An Jia’s bones were found scattered on the floor rather than placed on the stone couch, possibly indicating a secondary burial. Evidence of fire was also found inside the tomb, perhaps linked to Xianbei funerary customs. Excavated intact in 2001, it remains unique as the only undisturbed Sogdian tomb found in China and is considered one of that year’s most important archaeological discoveries. Nearby contemporary Sogdian burials include the Tombs of Yu Hong and Wirkak, suggesting the cemetery may have been reserved for foreign elites.

“She is a Vietnamese transgender queen, model, singer and actress. In March 2018, she won the Miss International Queen 2018 held in Pattaya, Thailand. After seven years, she was appointed as Miss Universe Vietnam 2025. Now she will represent Vietnam at Miss Universe 2025 in Thailand.”

"Um-Ilias" (ca. 1960s) by Tamam Al-Akhal; Palestinian