Tomb and urn images shed light on the intricacies of Etruscan and Roman civilization at least 2,000 years ago, reviving it for modern times. A 2,500-year-old Etruscan tomb in the Italian city of Tarquinia has walls covered in paintings of brightly colored dancers and musicians. A 1st-century funerary urn of a woman who died in nearby Rome depicts a couple playing a board game.

While tombs and urns might seem to be unlikely places to find scenes of people dancing or playing board games, in classical antiquity they conveyed important messages about personal relationships and society.