Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
GREEK VASES
The BM boasts an exhausting array of Greek vases : Mycenaean vases (1300 BC) in room 12
and Geometric (around 800 BC) and Athenian black-figure vases (around 600 BC) in room 13.
Among the red-figure vases from Greece's Classical age (500 BC onwards) in rooms 14 and 15,
check out the satyrs balancing wine coolers on their erect penises (room 15, cabinet 7). There
are further hoards of mostly red-figure vases in room 19 and the mezzanine gallery in room 20,
not to mention various examples dotted about rooms 68-73 and in the Enlightenment gallery
(room 1).
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perspective. Another superlative slice stands directly opposite, where the oxen are being
led to the gods (said to have inspired Keats to write Ode on a Grecian Urn ). At each
end of the room are the freestanding pedimental sculptures: the figures from the east
pediment, which depict the extraordinary birth of Athena - she emerged full-grown
and armed from the head of Zeus - are the more impressive, though most are headless.
Tomb of Payava
Two of Lord Elgin's even less defensible appropriations stand forlornly in room 19: a
single Ionic column and one of the six caryatids from the portico of the Erechtheum ,
on the Acropolis. Further on, in room 20, is another large relic from Xanthos, the
partially reconstructed Tomb of Payava , built during the incumbent's lifetime in the
fourth century BC; the reliefs on the tomb's steep roof would have been out of view of
earthbound mortals, and are best viewed from the mezzanine (room 20a) - if it's open.
Wonders of the Ancient World
Room 21 contains fragments from one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World:
two huge figures, an Amazonian frieze and a marble horse the size of an elephant from
the self-aggrandizing tomb of King Mausolus at Halikarnassos (source of the word
“mausoleum”) from the fourth century BC. However, the real gem is the sculpted
column drum, decorated in high relief, in room 22, from another Wonder, the colossal
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus . The rest of the room is devoted to Hellenistic culture
and features a fabulously delicate, gold oak wreath with a bee and two cicadas.
The upper floors
The remainder of the Greek and Roman collection is situated on the upper floors
(rooms 69-73), best approached from the west stairs, which are lined with rich
mosaics . For the most part, the best stuff is displayed in room 70, and includes a
dazzling display of silverware from Roman Gaul and an intriguing, warty, crocodile-
skin suit of armour worn by a Roman follower of the Egyptian crocodile cult (cabinet
18). Don't miss the first-century AD silver Warren Cup (cabinet 12a), whose graphic
depictions of gay sex were deemed too risqué to be shown to the public until the
1990s. Next to it stands the Portland Vase , made from cobalt-blue blown glass, and
decorated with opaque white cameos. The vase was famously smashed into over two
hundred tiny pieces by a drunken Irishman in 1845, for which he was fined £3.
Middle East
he Middle Eastern collection covers all the lands east of Egypt and west of India. The
majority of exhibits on the ground floor (rooms 6-10) come from the Assyrian Empire,
centred on modern-day Iraq; upstairs (rooms 52-59) you'll find more rich pickings
from Mesopotamia and the surrounding region; in the north wing of the building, on
the ground floor, is a room devoted to Islam (room 34).
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP GREAT COURT P.107 ; MOSAIC, WEST STAIRS ABOVE ; STANDARD OF UR P.112 >
 
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