Day 33: Tackling the British Museum

Today Ethan and I spent our entire day at the British Museum.  In the morning I made a list of galleries I wanted to see.  The list was 44 galleries long.  Not exactly realistic, but I separated out the rooms that may contain research related items and we headed to the museum.  Five hours later and 1,220 pictures later, we headed out.  I had only seen a fraction of the things I had wanted to and it had been an exhausting day of fighting through crowds, but also a wonderful and exciting day.

As I took so many photos, it was impossible to go through them all before this post so I decided to do my highlights from the Roman Britain gallery.

Below is a rare gold body-chain from the Hoxne Hoard.  The Hoxne Hoard is a collection of 15,000 coins and precious pieces of jewelry and other items found in Hoxne, Suffolk.  The body-chain centers around an amethyst, with garnet decoration and what is believed to have been pearl decorations as well.

This 4th century wall painting with Christian imagery comes from a Roman villa in Lullingstone, Kent.  Shown here is a large ΧΡ, or chi-rho, symbol, which represent Jesus Christ with the first two letters of Christ in Greek.  There is also an alpha and omega, an appellation of Jesus in the Book of Revelation.  Other painted walls from the villa depict early Christian priests preaching and giving benediction.

This head of Jupiter would have had much more decoration in Roman times.  Where there seems to be a seem or an indented band would have been a separate wreath or diadem.  The eyes would have been filled with enamel to give a more lifelike appearance to the king of gods.

I'm surprised in such coin based societies, I haven't seen more piggy banks.  An example was found in England though, with a simple pot cut for coins to be put in and a few coins still inside.

This is thought to be the earliest depiction of Jesus Christ in Britain.  The mosaic was found in a complex at a villa in Hinton St. Mary, Dorset.  The images shown in the larger mosaics were not just Christian, but pull from Greek mythology as well.  The mosaics in the front room show Bellerophon fighting the Chimera, while the depictions around Jesus resemble the four wind gods.  However, it is theorized that the figures around Jesus are actually depicting four of the apostles and were executed by an artist unaware of the symbolism.  Either way it shows Christianity being depicted in mosaic in Britain by the mid-4th century CE.

Hercules was a popularly depicted deity in Britain.  The one below was found near Hadrian's Wall and may have been commissioned by soldiers.  If the sculpture was complete it would depict Hercules with a bow, shooting down the Stymphalian birds.

I've been really fascinated by any sort of everyday items I've come across, especially perishable ones like textiles or this bucket binding.  Made of twisted willow, this binding would have held oak pieces together to form a bucket.  It was thought to be used for a well.

The Ribchester Helmet was found in 1796 by a clog-maker's son as part of the Ribchester Hoard.  The hoard contained military paraphernalia, including pieces from cavalry sporting events, or hippika gymnasia.  The helmet below would have been used in such events and is a wonderful decorative piece.  The figures depicted show infantrymen and cavalrymen fighting.

This iron ingot, known as a pig, was found in Hints Common, Straffordshire, but originated from lead mines in north-eastern Wales (indicated by the DECEANG).  An inscription on top of the ingot declares it the property of emperor, Vespasian.

These two gold fibulae show how the upper echelons designed their brooches.  They follow the traditional crossbow design, but are done in higher quality gold.  Both date from the 4th century.

This collection of silver snake rings comes from a jeweler's hoard found in Norfolk and dating from the mid-2nd century CE.  The rings show how certain popular styles of jewelry were being mass produced in Roman Britain.  They jeweler also had a similar collection of gem-set rings and even more gems cut and ready to be put into new rings.  Other items included tools for carving and finishing jewelry and older silver coins that were being used as scrap metal.

This is a very early example of a letterhead.  The 2nd or 3rd century wooden writing tablet from London has the official stamp of the imperial procurators in Britain.  These officials represented the imperial interests in the province, including tax management and government expenditure.

Possibly the most exciting thing I saw all day was a selection of the Vidolanda Tablets.  The tablets, originating from a Roman fort just south of Hadrian's Wall, contain discussions of military matters, personal messages, communications between families, and other bits and pieces of everyday life in the northern most parts of Roman Britain.  The tablet is a letter between brothers discussing business ventures.  There's a theory that the author was left-handed.

I saw probably thousands of other objects today and it wasn't enough.  I ensured to go to all my research related rooms today, but missed many other sections that I wanted to see.  I'm headed back to the British Museum to explore more tomorrow while Ethan does some research at Lambeth Palace.  I think tomorrow still won't be enough, but at some point I'll be come oversaturated with their amazing collection!

Fun Fact #33: Before the discovery of the Vindolanda Tablets scholars were not sure how the Romans in Britain referred to native peoples.  The tablets give Brittunculi, meaning little Britons, as a derogatory and patronizing term for native peoples.  However, this may have been particular to the Romans in the northern part of Britain or for the tribes in the northern area.

Day 15: Making it to the Museum

Leaving Port Talbot, I headed to the "Pittsburgh of Wales," Newport.  People are really enjoying telling me what American equivalent I'm headed to next.  Again, I disagree, although I have never been to Pittsburgh either.  Newport reminds me of want-to-be Boston in a lot of ways.  It has a nice stretch along the River Usk that they are trying to develop into a center of arts and culture, but the process seems to be going slow.  There is a lot of construction and renovation happening around the city.  So the city really seems like a work in progress.

Traveling so much has made me lose sense of time.  I rarely know what day of the week it is, which almost became a major problem.  I was planning on heading to the Newport Museum, the point of my visit, tomorrow.  As I was walking to my hotel, I had a vague memory that today was Saturday and that most museums are closed on Sundays (you know, like most things).  So I thought to check the times on the museum, and turns out it is closed on Sundays.  It would have been horrible to miss another museum.

So I headed out towards the museum (and managed to get lost in the midst of the construction).  Once I found the museum, I was surprised to find a trove of Roman artifacts.  The museum contains many pieces from the excavations in Caerleon and Caerwent, two sites outside Cardiff that I will be seeing in the next few days.  The prehistoric and Roman room was well divided into different cases, such as ones dedicated to the region in the Iron Age and the Bronze Age.  Once it became more focused on the Roman occupation, the cases focused on Roman religion, domestic life, jewelry, the army, etc.  Here are just a few selections of the many interesting things from the museum.

This dish is from what is known as Caerleon ware.  The ware was produced in the Caerleon area and shows influence from other Roman pottery, such as the famous Samian ware.  Some of the pieces were even meant to imitate the Samian ware from Gaul, suggesting that the citizens of Caerleon wanted a cheaper, easier to get alternative to importing more pottery. 

There was also another style of local pottery, presumably more of a common, everyday pottery.  It was grey, rather than the preferred red tones found in Samian or Caerleon ware.

Another wonderful piece of the collection was a Roman glass urn with human remains still inside.  In the 1st and 2nd centuries, cremation was the main mode of Roman burial.  This changed later (and varied around the Empire), leading to many beautiful sarcophagi, but it is very cool to see the remains of a Roman, around 2,000 years later.  Or maybe I just find that cool...

The museum also had a beautiful collection of jewelry and clothing items, like this penannular brooch.  These brooches are a great example of Roman and Celtic fashions coming together.  They became particular popular in Roman Britain during the 3rd and 4th centuries, often adding images of animals to the brooches (not quite visible in this photo).

There were also some lovely fragments of frescoes discovered in Caerleon.  Most, like this depiction of a male figure, were done sometime in the 4th century, but there is evidence that there were earlier frescoes in some places that had been plastered over.

There is a great deal of evidence in this museum of the mixing of native British and Roman cultures.  Here is a depiction of a Celtic mother goddess found in a Roman home in Caerwent.  She seems to have been worshipped as a fertility goddess.  Other similar Celtic depictions included a male statue and an antefix tile with the depiction of a Celtic feline goddess (although this is not entirely certain).

A final, special gem was this Roman tile with a paw print in it.  It is very fun to imagine the ancient craftsmen making this tile and then watching a favorite dog run across it, ruining the tile.  It's wonderful when little bits like this survive in history!

After seeing the museum, I went a walk along the River Usk.  Below you can see the Riverfront Center, which houses a gallery and a performance space, and a pedestrian footbridge.  There is a nice walk running along the river itself.

My hotel, along with a many residential neighborhoods of Newport, lay across the River Usk.

A detail of the pedestrian footbridge.

Fun Fact #15: So this fact may not be quite a fact.  Like most museum displays, sources aren't cited, but the Newport Museum had a display titled "What money was worth at Caerwent in AD 122?"  I'm not quite sure where this information was derived, but here's what things cost in Caerwent 1,893 years ago!

Annual pay of a Roman legionary: 300 denarii

Half liter of wine: 1 as

Cloak: 5 denarii and 2 asses

Slave boy: 600 denarii

Loaf of bread: 2 asses

(Roman currency is confusing and variable, so for simplicity sake, at this time an as would have been worth 1/16th of a denarius)