I'm going to try to make this post as blurb-like as possible so I can finish packing at a reasonable hour.
Today was our last day in London and surprisingly probably the day Ethan and I spent the least time together. After breakfast we headed to a harp showroom that Ethan had found near our hotel. After seeming to be closed, we were able to sneak in and Ethan played on some pedal harps. It was very beautiful and a special treat for me.
Ethan then headed to the archives of Lambeth Palace while I returned to the British Museum. My goal was to essentially tackle the rest of the ancient rooms from Europe and the Middle East. Part of this collection included massive gateways and friezes from Assyrian cities like Nimrud and Nineveh. The lamassu, an Assyrian protective deity with the head of a man, body of a lion, and wings, comes from Khorsabad.
This fragment depicting an Assyrian king hunting lions comes from the palace of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh. There walls and walls depicting these hunts, both from chariot, by bow, and by hand. The reliefs even show courtiers watching the event. Sadly, as many of you may know, Nineveh has fallen into the hands of ISIL, although so far seems to have escaped the fate of other sites like Nimrud or Hatra. ISIL has threatened to destroy the city's ancient walls if the Iraqis attempt to liberate the city.
I moved from ancient Assyria to ancient Greece and the world of Hellenistic art. This golden wreath, dating from between 350 and 300 BCE, show the wonderful talent of an ancient goldsmith. Not only are the leaves done beautifully, the wreath is full of acorns, two cicadas, and even a bee. Wreathes like this may have been used in religious ceremonies and this one may have been for a cult of Jupiter, as the oak was his tree.
This Roman copy of a Hellenistic sculpture depicts an extinct breed of dog, the Molossus. The breed originated in the northern part of Greece, taking its name from the Molossian people. It is believed to be the ancestor of today's Mastiff-type dogs, which are still sometimes called Molossus dogs.
I was then able to explore remains of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. The portion of the frieze below depicts the Amazonomachy, the battle between the Greeks and the Amazons. The frieze would have been about half way up the 148' monument. The sheer scale of the remains were amazing, so it's hard to fathom what the original mausoleum would have looked like.
I went a bit back in time to earlier periods in Greece. This large pottery vessel, probably a pithos used for storage, seems to be in the style of the Greek protogeometric period which was between 1050 and 900 BCE.
I came to a room celebrating Athens and the power it rose to during the 5th century BCE. Perikles, depicted below, not only solidified the power of the Athenian people, but also worked to make the most beautiful city in Greece. This brought together some of the finest poets, playwrights, architects, etc. They're crowning achievement was the Parthenon.
Much smaller, but beautiful in a completely different way, the Erechtheion sits in the shadow of the Parthenon. The temple was constructed around 420 BCE and is most noted for its porch of caryatids. The caryatids, which depict young women, act as support columns as part of the temple.
The British Museum has a wonderful collection of Greek pottery from throughout Greek history. This red-figured kylix (wine cup) depicts a symposium scene, albeit with some interesting characters. Rather than an Athenian citizen and a female companion, the painting shows the god of the Underworld, Hades, with his wife Persephone.
I then made my way to Italy and the world of the Etruscans. The sarcophagus below was made around 150 to 140 BCE for a wealthy woman named Seianti Hanunia Tiesnasa. She is decadently dressed in brightly colored robes, bracelets, rings, earnings, a necklace, and a tiara. She checks her appearance in small hand mirror.
Etruscan mirrors always hold a special place of interest to me after hearing my grandmother talk about studying them. This bronze mirror depicts the hero Hercules, as shown by his signature club behind his head.
This large limestone sculpture comes from Cyprus, an ancient society I know next to nothing about. It dates to the early 5th century and depicts a Cypriot priest in Greek- style robes. The sculpture was found at the site of a temple dedicated to Apollo, but the sculpture predates the introduction of Apollo to the island. Therefore the man in the sculpture must be a priest to an earlier deity.
I ventured into a bit more familiar territory in gallery about the Greeks in Italy. This terra-cotta figurine from southern Italy shows two women playing with knucklebones (astragalos). The game, which used the anklebones of sheep or goats or models made of terra-cotta, bronze, or other materials, is similar to jacks. It involved throwing the knucklebones in the air and trying to catch them with one hand before they hit the ground.
I moved away from Greece and Italy and towards the ancient Middle East. This famous piece, referred to as the "Ram in a Thicket," comes from the ancient Mesopotamian city of Ur. The piece, which is one of a pair, is over 4,500 years old. It also to be more precise (and less influenced by a passage in the Bible than the discoverer), the depiction is of a goat. For those in the United States, the other sculpture is at the University of Pennsylvania Museum, so no transatlantic flight needed!
When I went into the gallery on ancient Iran, I was struck by how many of the pieces jumped out as things I have study over the past three years. I believe this portion is a cast, but the Museum contains fragments from the Palace of Darius in Persepolis. They have been reconstructed to show the triumph of the Persian Empire, which focuses on subjects from all over the empire bringing dedications to the king. This panel however shows a lion attacking a bull and is mirrored on the other side.
The Egyptian rooms on the second floor of the Museum focused on death and afterlife. As the collection of mummies is infamous at the British Museum, the rooms were packed. It was quite impossible to move, take satisfactory pictures, or really enjoy artifacts. However, I did manage to find some wonderful mummies from Roman Egypt. Artemidorus died in the early 2nd century CE and was buried at Hawara. The burial combines the Egyptian religion and gods with a Roman-style portrait and garb and a Greek name to create a Roman Egyptian.
The Egyptians will always be fascinating. This was proven again when I was able to see the mummy of a cat up close and personal. I guess in some way it's sweet? (Also not just the Egyptians; yesterday I found a rather large funerary monument to a Roman's dog.) Other animals mummified included a kitten, fish, an eel, a snake, and sacred bulls.
I ended my day in the museum by exploring a small gallery on Coptic Egypt. The fragment of pottery below has lines from Psalms written out in Greek. Sadly, Ethan was not there to translate the Koine for me.
After a long day, I managed to see every gallery I had wanted to (excluding the ones that were closed). My feet were tired and my patience for large crowds had run out hours earlier, but I got to see so many amazing pieces of history.
Ethan and I reunited and had a quite last evening in London. Now it's time to rest before our journey home tomorrow.
Fun Fact #34: In 2005, a little-known artist going by the name Banksy hung his own piece in the British Museum. The piece, entitled "Early Man Goes To Market" and depicting a caveman with a shopping cart, hung in the gallery on Roman Britain for a few days before being removed. I wonder how much that Banksy is worth now! Maybe the British Museum would even purchase it now.
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