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.

London: Museum of London (Roman section)

So the Museum about the history of London had an excellent Roman section. And it was very helpful of them to include the macrons over "museum" so I know how to pronounce it...

below are pictures I took in the museum. Obviously, it's all copyrighted to the Museum of London.

This is what a cobbler's workshop may have looked like. Much of this is recreated, but parts of it are actual artifacts.

In a similar way, here is a reconstruction of a stonesmith's workshop. I like how the floor was made to look messy as it

certainly would have.

This is another reconstructed room. I believe the wall painting and couch are reproductions while the remaining artifacts are real. Notice the mosaic floor and abundance of amphorae.

Speaking of amphorae, here is a case that would have transported ancient fragile things. The straw is not really ancient :)

Her

e's an ancient ladder. The design is actually quite clever--the side pieces of wood have holes carved in for the perpendicular parts. I wonder how stable they really were.

Here's a closer detail shot:

These are fragments found in at a mint where coins were made. The different parts worked together to create coins. Such as...

Here are examples of coins found in London of different denominations. You've got ...aureus, denarius, sestertius, dupondius, as

Here are the remnants of a grain mill. You have the main stone part that turned and the bowl at the top for grain and such. The curved part off to the side would be for holding the slave or farm animal to turn the device.

Here is an actual wall-painting that was found. Look at the bright colors and details--amazing.

Here are some musical instruments. Notice the many variations on what seems to be a basic flute.

Here we see another kind of instruments--the kind used for a woman's hair. There's a comb with many fine teeth, a mirror, various pins, and decorative pieces.

Below is from the food part of the exhibit. It shows the remains found of what Romans ate (bones, pits, seeds and such) and then a little plastic version of what that actually is. It's cool--this is how we know what they ate! We can also guess at the quantities and combinations based on how the remains were found.

London: Part 1

Londinium was a town founded by Romans around 43 AD. It was a pretty significant city until the 5th century AD when Rome fell. The name came from some local Celtic word, but the Romans made it into a true city. When the city started to grow, it was sacked by Boudicca in around 60 AD, but that revolt was soon put down. After that it grew in every way imaginable.

Modern London is very aware of its Roman heritage and remnants of ancient cultures can be

found everywhere. It may take quite a few posts to show all I found--and believe me, I did

not find it all.

So we start

with a painting depicting someone from Rome's early history: The Rape of the Sabine Women. This painting is housed in the National Gallery and is by Peter Paul Rubens.

You can see the Romanesque architecture in the background to help you place it in case you're not sure. The people speak for themselves.

This is a "Roman Triumph" by also by Rubens.

It's got excellent details, and you can again see the distantarchitecture. Notice the musical instruments, sacrificial animals, priests, and fire!

As I walked down the street, I noticed this hanging above some random restaurant. The Latin above it says "orbes orbem semper spectent" which would translate roughly to: Let the worlds always watch the world."

This is a stained glass window from the Royal Airforce Museum. It shows an RAF pilot with the following

Latin motto: ad astra per aspera

Also from the RAF museum, this is a statue of Icarus. Now, why might that be in a museum devoted to Britain's expertise at flying?

In Picadilly Circus, this statue of Eros stands right in the center. You can see the wings and bow and arrow very clearly. Also, it's a much more classical representation of Eros--no chubby cheeks.

In the Tower of London, in the armor exhibit, I found this crest which I think must be a play on Vergil's famous line. This crest says "Arma virumque gero" ...hehe, get it?

Randomly walking down the street and there's a random Roman reference. Woooo!

Do you think the owners of this place worry about it burning down? Aaah I crack myself up.

This is known as Cleopatra's Needle. It did come from Egypt--but in the 18th century. Still--ancient stuff, woo!

As you walk towards Parliament and

Westminster Abbey, you see a lot of people protesting for peace. One of the signs has a famous Latin quote! This is from a Horace poem, in which he meant it literally, and was later used by British poet Wilfred Owen ironically. It says "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" which translates to "It is sweet and glorious to die for your country"

Here are a few angles on the big Boudicca statue near a Tube statue. It's very cool.