The British Museum.The Rosetta Stone, which is inscribed with a decree (on behalf of King Ptolemy V) in three different scripts: Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, Ancient Egyptian Demotic script, and Ancient Greek (196 BC).Ram sphinx of King Taharqo (25th Dynasty, 690-664 BC).The Gayer-Anderson Cat, which represents the cat-goddess Bastet (ca. 600 BC, possibly from around Saqqara).Assyrian panels taken from the North-West Palace in Nimrud; dated to 865-860 BC.‘The Royal Lion Hunt’, an Assyrian panel taken from the North Palace in Nineveh; dated to 645-635 BC.‘Return from the Hunt’, another Assyrian panel taken from the North Palace in Nineveh; dated to 645-635 BC.Tanagras – terracotta figures representing the wealthy elite in the latest fashions; these served both a domestic and funerary function (ca. 340-200 BC).‘he Nereid Monument, a sculptured tomb from Xanthos (4th-century BC).Statue of a Molossian hound, an extinct breed of dog, that is a 2nd-century AD Roman copy of a Hellenistic bronze original from the 2nd-century BC.Lely’s Venus, a sculpture of the goddess Venus surprised while bathing (1st or 2nd-century AD Roman copy of a Hellenistic original).Sculptures taken from the east pediment of the Parthenon for preservation at the British Museum.A rock crystal skull from the late 19th-century AD; created in Europe, it once fooled many who believed it was an artifact from the Aztecs.Basalt statue known as ‘Hoa Hakananai’a’ from Easter Island (ca. 1400 AD).The Bodhisattva Tara; from Sri Lanka (8th-century AD).Bust of the Bodhisattva Siddhartha emaciated through fasting; from Pakistan (2nd or 3rd-century AD).Shiva and Pavarti; from Orissa, India (12th or 13th-century AD).Turquoise mosaic mask of Tezcatlipoca (a human skull forms the base of this mask); Aztec, ca. 1400-1521 AD.The Enlightenment Gallery, which contains many objects that are organized into seven themes and displayed according to 18th-century AD practices.Three wax discs, one gold disc, and a crystal ball that were used by John Dee (b. 1527, d. 1608 AD) to conjure up spirits in an effort to understand the universe.An amber tankard from Königsberg (ca. 1640-60 AD).A porcelain plate from Russia that commemorates the 1918 assassination of Mosei Uritzky (1922 AD).The Sword of State, which belonged to one of two princes of Wales (Edward, son of Edward IV, and Edward, son of Richard III) (1473-83 AD).The Fishpool Hoard, the largest hoard of medieval coins discovered in Britain; they were deposited around 1464 AD.The Royal Gold Cup, which was originally made for the French royal family at the end of the 14th-century AD.The Lothair Crystal, which was probably made for the Carolingian King Lothair II (855-869 AD).The Sutton Hoo Helmet, one of four complete helmets to have survived from Anglo-Saxon England (6th or 7th-century AD).The Lycurgus Cup, a glass cage-cup from the Roman Empire (4th-century AD).The Mildenhall Great Dish, a silver dish from the Roman Empire (4th-century AD).The Cyrus Cylinder, an ancient clay cylinder from Persia (6th-century BC).Carved statues from ancient South Arabia (6th-century BC to 2nd-century AD).An official clay tablet that chronicles important events in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar between 605 and 595 BC; it pinpoints the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem and the surrender of Jehoakim, King of Judah, at Jerusalem in 597 BC (6th-century BC).A Babylonian clay tablet that depicts the known world (700-500 BC).Amulets depicting Pazuzu, “demon of the southwest wind”, who was supposed to protect humans from evil (Iraq, ca. 900-500 BC).The Queen of the Night, a Mesopotamian goddess; thisplaque was probably made in Babylonia (southern Iraq) between 1792 and 1750 BC, during the reign of King Hammurabi.Two mummies of cats (Egyptian Roman Period, sometime after 30 AD).Ivory figurines; Egyptian, Early to Middle Predynastic Period (33rd to 32nd-century BC).The Semna dispatches, part of a Hieratic papyrus; Egyptian, 13th Dynasty, ca. 1780 BC.Bronze statue of a warrior on horseback; made in Taranto, ca. 550 BC.Gnathian baby feeders made in the shapes of rats; produced in Sicily, ca. 320-300 BC.A bronze masterpiece from Ancient Greece (ca. 450 BC).A Roman marble sculpture depicting an African acrobat on a crocodile; it may depict a member of the Tentrytae tribe of Egypt, who were famous for diving on the backs of crocodiles in the Nile River (ca. 1st-century BC or 1st-century AD).The Portland Vase, a Roman glass vase (ca. 15 BC – 25 AD).A Roman Bronze tintinabulum; objects like this were suspended in gardens and a winged-lion phallus was believed to provide protection against evil and to bring good luck to the household (1st-century AD).Bronze helmet of a Murmillo (a class of gladiator), that weighed 8 lbs; Roman, 1st-century AD.Two Sudanese throwing knives (19th-century AD).Head of a Queen Mother; from Benin, Nigeria (16th-century AD).A hat made from spider’s web, cane, and ostrich feathers; it was created by the San people in southern Africa (early-20th-century AD).‘Throne of Weapons’ by Cristóvão Canhavato; this throne is made from decommissioned weapons from Mozambique’s Civil War, which lasted from 1977-1992 AD (2002 AD).
I woke up today after 09:00, showered, dressed, and then got to work reserving places to stay in Edinburgh, Dublin, and New York City, as well as reserving seats on the train and airplanes I will take to get to these places over the next two weeks. This took up quite a bit of my morning and I did not leave the hostel until 13:00. I then walked to the Angel Station and rode the tube to Russell Square Station. From there, I walked southwest to the British Museum, which I entered shortly after 13:30 (good thing its open late on Fridays, till 20:30. Next, I proceeded to walk through all the permanent exhibition rooms (I had neither the time nor the inclination to pay to see the temporary exhibitions). This museum was wholly impressive and had artifacts from all around the world, helping to illustrate the entire history of human civilization. The Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek, and Roman collections were particularly great, and I enjoyed the artifacts and accompanying history on England and the Celts; however, I wish the museum had more to offer in regards to the history of the British Isles. In many ways, this museum served as a reminder to many of the places I’ve been on this long and exhaustive trip of mine – especially the Asian wing, showing artifacts and pictures of sites such as Borobudur, Wat Pho, Angkor Wat, Bodh Gaya, Ellora Cave Temple, Sri Dalada Maligawa, etc. The most important relic in this museum is probably the Rosetta Stone, but there were many other awesome objects worth seeing: pieces from the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus (one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World), remains from the Nereid Monument, pieces from the Parthenon (the “Elgin Marbles” – the ones that Greece desperately wants back), Nineveh Palace Reliefs, the Cyrus Cylinder (considered to be the world’s first charter of human rights), the Royal Gold Cup (or “Saint Agnes Cup”), a Holy Thorn Reliquary, an Easter Island statue, the Benin Bronzes from Nigeria, one of those hoax Crystal Skulls (a nineteenth-century AD European creation that was purported to be of Aztec origin), and many, many more treasures. I spent nearly seven hours inside the museum and moved rather quickly. If one were to actually read every placard and spend time studying the pieces, one would need three days or so to visit the museum. I did manage to walk through each room of the permanent collection, but it was at too quick of a pace, even by my standards. After touring the museum, I exited the building after 20:00 and walked back to Russell Square Station. Next, I rode the tube back to Angel Station. From there, I walked north along Upper Street and through Camden Passage, trying to find a place to eat; I wanted an authentic English pub, but each one was spilling with crowds, drinking the night away (just like yesterday’s experience at the pub and restaurant I ended up at); so I settled on a hipster place and had spiced tortilla chips (with tzatziki, guacamole, and salsa), sweet potato fries, a fish pie (made with cod, salmon, scallops, tiger prawns, onion, and peas, and topped with English mustard and cheddar mash), and beer. After dinner, I stopped at a local Starbucks and had a pumpkin spiced latte, which I brought back with me to the hostel. As I drank my seasonal latte, I researched the best way to get to Stonehenge and looked up the sites I wanted to see tomorrow. I then typed out today’s journal entry and eventually went to bed after 01:00.
