I've seen a few JavaScript image rotators that use either the HTML5 canvas element or an AJAX call to a server-side script, but is it possible to do it without using those methods? Internet Explorer doesn't support canvas (I'm aware of excanvas, but I'd like to do without if possible) and I'm not sure if AJAX will be fluid enough. If there is a way, are there any open source scripts, examples, or resources that you could point me to?
Alas, CSS does not support rotating images in any way, shape or form (unless you count CSS Transforms, which are only supported by Safari 4 and Firefox 3.1).
Your best bet is to use Raphael's image() and rotate(), which should support all semi-modern browsers (using SVG) and most versions of IE (using VML).