Day 34: Making the Most of Our Last Day

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.

Day 30: Getting Rained on in St. Albans

Today we had a stressful day, but a pretty successful one.  Ethan had a meeting the the Dean of St. Albans Cathedral and Abbey and I was tagging along to see the church and explore the Roman city of Verulamium.  Sadly, we had issues finding the right train station to get to St. Albans and then more issues with tickets.  After spending far too much time on the tube, we got on the train on a very rainy day and headed to St. Albans.

We went to the cathedral-abbey first and explored a very amazing church.  With Norman and Saxon origins, the church grew into a massive abbey complex and then dwindled again after the Dissolution.  It was revived and is now the thriving cathedral of the diocese.  The church is named for St. Alban, a 3rd century martyr who was a Roman citizen in the local town.  He was martyred for converting to Christianity and sheltering a priest.  His cult probably began around the middle of the 5th century and there is a shrine that holds relics of the saint in the cathedral.

St. Alban is depicted in the new nave screen, which depicts seven martyrs.  Four are locals: St. Alban, St. Amphibalus, George Tankerfield, and Alban Roe.  They range in period from the 3rd century to the 17th.  The other three are St. Elizabeth Romano, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Oscar Romero.  All three come from the 20th century and are meant to remember the sacrifices still made for the church.  Together, they represent early Christianity, Anglicanism, Roman Catholicism, Russian Orthodoxy, and Lutheranism.

The cathedral has centuries of history, most of which I learned from Ethan after his talk with the dean.  The Lady Chapel, pictured below, was for a long period separated from the rest of the church.  There was quite literally a road running between the church and the chapel building.  The chapel was used as the local grammar school before being reincorporated to the cathedral.

The Wallingford Screen was built in the late 15th century but was devastated by the Dissolution.  Every statue in the screen was torn down and destroyed.  In the 19th century, the cathedral went through major restoration and renovation.  The two main benefactors disagreed on how the screen should look.  One felt that it should be restored into its original state and the other wanted to go more modern (and more egocentric) with just a silhouette of himself and Queen Victoria.  Apparently the conflict went all the way to the House of Lords, and luckily (in our opinion) the more traditional restoration won out.

The abbey greatly benefited in the 12th century when an Englishman was elected Pope.  Nicholas Breakspear, better known as Adrian IV, had been educated at the Abbey School of St. Albans and his selection as Pope increase interest in St. Albans as a pilgrimage.

After the church visit, I headed to the Verulamium Museum and site while Ethan met with the Dean.  I first headed to the theater at Verulamium.  Unlike the other theaters I've seen this trip, it is a true theater, not amphitheater.  The first theater at the site was built around 140 CE and was enlarged in 160 CE.  The theater could fit 7,000 people and featured columns 5.8 meters tall on the stage.  The theater eventually fell out of disuse, even before the Roman occupation ended.  It's unclear why it was no longer used.

Around the theater were the local shops and a few homes.  One third century villa contained an underground shrine, possibly suggesting that Christianity had forced pagan rituals into private settings.  Although, it may have just been a private shrine and that might be too much of an attachment.

Below is a pendant with a triskele, which is a design featured in cultures around the world.  It was particularly important in Celtic culture and art.  I'm curious how this was influenced by the Roman occupation and vice versa.

The gold ring below has a depiction of an ear of wheat.  The native Catavellauni tribe had a culture dominated by farming and it seems that the Romans continued the tradition.  Along with the ring, there were also depictions of Ceres, the goddess of the harvest and crops.

Below is a variation on the classic pennanular brooch.  The pair of silver brooches were connected by a thin chain.  I'm unsure if this would have been done to hold a cloak or just as a decorative statement.  Either way it seems like a fairly unique and beautiful piece.

There were many burials around Verulamium, fitting for a large Roman city.  They varied in their use of inhumation and cremation.  Some of the burials were in ornate lead coffins and others were in more simple stone ones.  One very interesting find was this Septimius Severus coin found in a child's grave.  The coin, shown with the child's teeth, was placed in the mouth of the child for burial and the copper in the coin turned the teeth a bluish-green color.  The coin probably dates the child's death to around 210 CE.

The depiction of Venus below, done in bronze, was originally depicted holding a golden apple.  The golden apple was won by Venus in the judgment of Paris, when she bribed him with the love of the most beautiful woman, Helen.  And we all know how that ended.  As a decline of Roman religion in Verulamium, the statue was found in what is believed to be a scrap pile in the workshop of a metalworker.

Verulamium had a unique triangular temple at a major intersection of roads.  The temple was dedicated to Cybele, an Anatolian goddess imported to Rome, and her consort, Attis.  The ceremonies dedicated to the gods involved the sacrifice of an ox, pine cones, palm leaves, and ceremonial pottery, all of which were found in the site of the temple.  The skull off an ox is shown below.

From the museum I went into Verulamium Park, which contains some more Roman artifacts.  Sadly, I was only able to peak at a large mosaic since the building had been closed for the day.  I did get to walk along portions of the city walls and see the foundation of a massive gateway.  The walls were a later addition, being added towards the end of the 3rd century.  Unlike most sites I have been to, the military presence in Verulamium was much smaller and the site was never really a fort.

I headed back towards the abbey through the park to meet Ethan in the rainy weather.  Unfortunately, due to a miscommunication, as I arrived back at the abbey, Ethan headed to the museum to find me.

I took a few more minutes to walk around the abbey before Ethan and I reunited.  We eventually found each other and headed back to the train station.  By the time we were back to London, we were wet, hot, sweaty, and ready for a break.  Though the day was successful, the travel logistics were messy and the rain dampened both our hair and our moods.  But with a little rest, we were able to rally for dinner and a quiet evening.

Fun Fact #30: There were several breeds of Roman dogs at Verulamium, shown by the various dog skeletons found at the site.  Romans had three divisions for different types of dogs, villatici or house dogs, venatici or sporting dogs, and pastorales or shepherds' dogs.  The villatici could be small lap dogs and the sporting dogs were divided into further categories: fighting (pugnacious) and hunting (celeres, sagaces).

Day 24: Meandering Through Museums

Somehow, Ethan and I were both convinced that yesterday was our last day in Bath and that we'd be headed to London this morning.  We're not sure how we both got so convinced of this, but we were happy to have another day in Bath.  We used it to explore some of the various museums in the city.

We went first to Holburne Museum, which is very close to our hotel.  The museum is built in the Sydney Gardens, a favored walking spot of Jane Austen when she lived in Bath, and was later adapted to house the eclectic collection of William Holburne.  The collection now includes a collection of British painting, ceramics from Britain and abroad, silver work, including many silver spoons, art and furniture from the Low Countries, and a variety of other pieces collected from around the world.

Ethan, being a harpist, was drawn by this single-action pedal harp from the 1700s.  The harp was built by famous French piano and harp maker, Sébastian Érard.  The pianoforte behind the harp is one of a handful of Schnatz instruments left and sports bone and ivory keys.  Haydn said of Schnatz pianofortes: "...everything is better expressed on a Schnantz."

While a rather prolific collected, William Holburne made a few mistakes over the years.  This includes a "Roman" ewer discovered by the Prince of Sicily in the 1800s.  A few hints that it was a fake: 1. There was no Prince of Sicily at the time; 2. The most likely candidate for who might have been this so called "prince" was only ten at the time of the "discovery"; and 3. The ewer doesn't look Roman...at all.  William got swindled.

Though there was a large collection of silver spoons, one was easily the most interesting.  This spoon was a combination of a spoon, a fork, a pen, a toothpick, and an ear-pick.  The toothpick and ear-pick portions are lost, but the bowl of the spoon could be removed to create a fork and the finial of the spoon could be removed to reveal the pen.  A pretty swanky multitool!

Here is a photo Ethan took and edited today!  A view from Holburne Museum, looking down Pulteney Road towards the center of Bath.

We headed from the Holburne into Bath Center and visited St. John the Evangelist, a Roman Catholic church.  The church was damaged by a bomb in World War II, as part of the Baedeker Blitz which targeted culturally and historic cities in England.  Six people died (although we've seen different numbers) in the church, including the parish priest of the church.  The church was rebuilt in the same Gothic style.

We then headed to a store I spotted in my wanderings yesterday, Wool.  I have been hoping to find local, British wool while in in the U.K., but have been sadly unable to.  Even in Chester, which was a once a center of the British wool trade, I couldn't find any locally sourced yarn.  However, Wool had quite a few options from around the U.K.  Ethan and I both got some new yarn, and I finally got British wool yarn (it's from Leicester!).

After getting cream tea for our lunch, we decided to head to the museum at the Royal Crescent.  Our tickets were half-price, since the BBC was filming a cooking show in the house's kitchen.  All the other rooms were accessible, so it was quite a deal!

They had a special exhibit on dollhouses from the 18th and 19th centuries.  Sadly, photography was not allowed, but the houses were extremely impressive.  They were full miniature Georgian manor houses, full of dolls, furniture, mirrors, paintings, and even china food!

We then explored the house which is meant to represent how it looked when it was occupied by Henry Sandford at the end of the 18th century.  The house contains many of his pet interests, including astronomical equipment (Ethan tests out his telescope), scientific inventions, like a machine designed to create a spark, and curiosities from around the world. 

This pistol-looking device was used to light lamps in the parlour of the house.  It would use the spark from the flint to ignite the wick.

This snake bone necklace is in Sandford's cabinet of curiosities.  The other curiosities included things like poison darts, fulgurites, arrowheads and a tomahawk from Northern America, a dog tooth purse, and more.

On the second floor of the house were the ladies quarters.  There was a "withdrawing" room for the women to go to after the main meal of the day.  It was set up for an after dinner tea and contained a harpsichord as well.  While the men stayed in the dining room, drinking and smoking, the women would have a quieter evening over their tea.

The other room on the second floor was the Lady's Bedroom.  The room was dominated by features to help the lady get dressed and keep her comfortable while in the many layers of clothes and wigs.  The lady of the house would have had a dedicated makeup table, holding tools to curl her hair and a wig stand for more elaborate hair pieces.  We also saw a big scratcher, as lice were apparently quite the problem in 18th century Bath.

Upstairs, the only room open to the public was the Gentleman's Bedroom.  Henry Sandford was somewhat of an invalid in his later years and spent most of his time in his bedroom.  It had a commanding view of the rest of the Royal Crescent.  The staffer in the room theorized that Sandford was quite the gossip and probably had his telescope in his room, spying on his neighbors.  He liked to write into the local papers about the raucous parties hosted in the house across the Crescent from his.

Down the servant's back staircase, we came to the humbler rooms of the house.  We were able to peak into the kitchen, despite the filming, and saw the office where the housekeeper ran the house.  Other rooms included the Servants' Hall and the Wine Vault (which was sadly not accessible to the public).  Both Ethan and I were surprised by how neat the museum was.

We then headed back to our hotel to try to escape the weather, as it was beginning to turn a bit sour.  We had a quite afternoon knitting and watching some tv (and watching the clouds roll in and out of Bath).  Now it's off for our last meal in Bath!

Fun Fact #23: In the Servants' Hall there was quite a strange contraption.  Apparently, they used a dog-powered wheel to turn the spit over the fire.  I thought it was a joke at first, but apparently, the servants would put a dog in the wheel up above the floor and through a series of ropes and pulleys, it turned the spit over the fire.  I really hope they gave the dog a fair share of that meat!