Photos, clockwise from top left: Martin Barraud/Getty Images; Aytunc Akad/Panos Pictures; Michael Sunderland; Guandingping/Dreamstime.com; E. Dygas/Getty Images; Medioimages/Photodisc/Getty Images; Helena Grier; Spyros Bourboulis/Getty Images; The Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Seikyo Shimbun