London: British Museum (beyond just Latin/Roman)

This museum is amazing! For any lover of classics, this is like an air-conditioned heaven. What I have here goes well beyond Latin, but is fascinating to anyone with a curious mind. Again--everything pictured here belongs to the British Museum and not me. Though really--it belongs to any students of the world with a heart.

Here is the museum from the outside--the classical references are hard to miss! Do I see Ionic columns?

First: the Rosetta Stone. One of the most important pieces to studies of ancient scripts, it is what allowed scholars to understand hieroglyphics. There was quite a crowd around this puppy...that's for sure.

These are two figures from the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. Their size is impressive enough, but you can also see some of the detail work. Oh yeah...wonder of the world, people!

A statue of Hadrian, one of the more prolific builders among the Roman emperors. Accompanying him is, of course, his very special friend Antinous--looking young and beautiful as ever.

Here we have an impressive acrobat. This is from Roman times, made in Egypt (I think). The alligator has been worked into this enterprising performer's routine in a way that clearly merited recognition.

Ancient games! These are actually Greek, I believe, but similar regardless. The Romans certainly had similar games. Anything look familiar?

Ancient pipes! You can see how intricate the workings are and how carefully they are crafted. Engineering project, anyone?

This is a carved pendant--probably smaller than my two thumbs next to each other. I want to say this was onyx with some other gems--regardless it is an amazing achievement. Such intricate work and completely without machines!

Fish bottle, anyone? Yes, this is made out of glass. It is certainly not a display of typical Roman practicality, but it certainly displays their skills.

Here are some more examples of glass (one has gold!!):

Here are some other valuable--put into piles by the loving museum staff. You can see precious metals, gems, coins, and all manner of shiny things.

Here we have some little pepper pots. They are very small and fragile. Pepper was a rare thing that was imported from India, so of course you had to have something fancy to hold it in. It's hard to make out in this picture, but the spoons also have images and designs in them.

Here we have some sieves. A very practical thing, but you can again see how there is room to be artistic in the design.

Silver goblets. Varying shapes and sizes and designs, of course. Remember--there was no mass production.

This is a rattle. That's right--you shake it and there's noise. In our culture these are generally a children's toy, but for Romans these were more often used in religious ceremonies. The noise was intended to scare away evil spirits.

Forceps! These probably look familiar from some procedure you've had in your life. However--these were not used to remove teeth, but rather to remove your uvula. Yeah, definitely something I need to read up on.

Here is another medical instrument--this time a clamp. You imagined getting your uvula removed as unpleasant? Well this was for castration (usually for animals, one hopes).

Here's a very interesting artifact showing a less scientific approach to medical issues. This one was probably made by someone who had a leg problem, so he creates a model of his leg and writes a prayer to the god of healing--Asklepios. Clever, no?

Sometimes your prayers are of more negative nature. A bunch of these were found in a certain place--they are little lead sheets with curses scratched into them. Curses usually involved calling upon a certain god with a specific badness to happen to your enemy. Perhaps "may all his cattle fall sick and die." These were found rolled up like the smaller picture here.

This is a medicine box a doctor may have kept various herbs and things in. Since most Romans were very suspicious of such things, I imagine such boxes were very rare.

And when the medicine didn't work, Romans made tomb decorations. Here are a couple examples from the tombs of freedmen, who were known to get rich and become a little uppity, even in the afterlife.

A statue of a crouching Venus. It is rare for her to be in such a position, and I really like it.

This is a relief sculpture of the myth of Latona and Niobe. It's in the incredibly uplifting part of the story when Apollo and Diana kill all of Niobe's children. Ah, the ancient world!

We end the British Museum post with the Parthenon. That most amazing example of Greek architecture--aaah. The museum has a whole hall of figures from it, but this was my favorite part.