Okay, it was sort of a boycott, but not like a normal boycott. I had never been to the British Museum until this trip, and I like to believe I had good reasons. Although, in hindsight, they were not good reasons.
Back in my college during my semester in London, I thought "I don't want to go to a stuffy museum. I'd rather go to more interesting, dynamic sights, like the Tower of London or a Chelsea football match. I also traveled a bunch of weekends by train, thumb (yes, younger friends, I was a hitchhiker, but it was pretty common back then -- and nobody ever even tried to kill me), or motorcycle.
The other three times to London before this trip were short three-day stays, so a Museum did not make the cut.
So yeah, I admit it, I never went to the British Museum until this trip. Honestly, I'm not sure I would have appreciated it. But it was fantastic. And probably better to have waited since I have far more interest in antiquities.
The British Museum is criticized for being stocked with items stolen from their homelands, such as the Elgin Marbles (as they were called back in the day) and other treasures from ancient Greece, or from Egypt, or from Ancient Assyria (nowadays friendly countries who love the West, such as Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey).
The counter to that is that many (not all) of these plundered treasures would have been destroyed or sold to private collectors. While that's not completely true (for example, in 2022 Carol and I were blown away on our trip to Egypt), my personal opinion is some of the antiquities would no longer be available for the public to see.
Most of the items came to England in the 19th century, when the sun never set on the British Empire. By 1922 the country controlled through colonization one quarter of the the earth's land area, and a quarter of the Earth's population. (But not the United States of America, so suck it, Britain!) (Just kidding. Sort of.)
We decided we'd focus on the highlights, most of which are on the first floor. The building is impressive, with the massive columns out front welcoming you into the Great Court, which is Europe's largest covered square. The Great Court was changed from a forgotten space to the hub of the museum in 2000, making it much easier to navigate the museum.
My brother Rick, feeling under the weather, did not join us at the museum, which is probably just as well. I say this lovingly, but we would NOT have been able to get him away from the Egypt section, unless we had gone first to the Assyrian section, then we couldn't have gotten him away from there. I think we could have gotten him away from the ancient Greece section, but it would have taken work. He would have loved it.
There's helpful maps that show the location of what they consider to be the ten most important exhibits, so that's what we targeted.
Egypt
Our first stop was the Rosetta Stone, which made it possible to decode Egyptian hieroglyphics because it featured three languages with the single inscription -- Greek, medieval Egyptian, and hieroglyphics.
Just imagine, no Rosetta Stone means no "Walk Like An Egyptian" song by the Bangles! No Rosetta Stone means no "King Tut" by Steve Martin! The Rosetta Stone has clearly led to any number of cultural touchstones -- get it? -- even today.
(Editor: I don't think you can draw a straight line from the Rosetta Stone to the Bangles. Writer: But I got there, didn't I?)
Honestly, I was underwhelmed by the Rosetta Stone, and not just because I can't read Greek or even medieval Egyptian, but because there was a crowd around it. However, even when I was able to patiently work my way up to the front of the crowd, it's hard to see the inscriptions. Don't get me wrong, I know how important it is to understanding Egyptian cultural and history during the 2000 years of their peak (from 3000 BC to 1000 BC).
From there we went around the Egyptian galleries, where I saw old friends like half a colossal statue of King Ramesses II (go to Egypt if you can, it's amazing!), and Egyptian gods as animals. There's a colossal Scarab (the Egyptians didn't do everything as colossals, but they did quite a bit!), and other items that are amazing.
Remember, these are 3,000 4,000, and close to 5,000 year old statues,, carvings, and more. Absolutely jaw-dropping.
Ancient Assyria
So, much to my surprise, I found this section to be the most captivating. Perhaps it's because I really didn't know much about this early Middle Eastern civilization. While Egypt dominated their sphere of influence for two thousand years, Assyria controlled the Middle East for just 300 years (900 to 600 BC), but they were around for several hundred years more.
But given that it's the Middle East and the crazy had to start sometime, even 300 years is pretty darn impressive.
The Assyrian display in the British Museum is a pretty good argument against giving the treasures in the museum back to their ancestral homes, as terrorists have destroyed many irreplaceable ancient sites in the Middle East. These actions don't make the the case that the march of civilizations is explicably forward.
The Assyrian collection includes impressive artifacts such as two human-headed winged lions, cuneiform script, the world's first written language, panels with battle scene reliefs.
All stunning, but my personal favorites are the royal lion hunts from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal. The reliefs show horses, hunters, arrows in flight, hunting dogs, and, of course, the hunted lions. The king of the jungle was also the king of the middle east until modern times, and the king would lead hunts to keep the population down, and then for sport.
This isn't Wide World of Sports (which sadly ended in 1997), but the action panels are quite dramatic. (See photo blog post following this). I would definitely go back and see even more of the Assyrian scenes.
Ancient Greece
Internationally, Greece is the word. The biggest uproar I'm aware of surrounding the British Museum is that the Greeks are quite put out by the fact that the museum has the Elgin Marbles and aren't giving them back to Athens.
The "Elgin Marbles" is the old school name for what has been rebranded the "Parthenon Galleries." In the early 1800s, Lord Elgin had his men hammer, chisel, and saw them off took 17 sculptures from the Parthenon high atop the hill called the Acropolis.
The sculptures are nearly 2,500 years old, Greece wants them back, and the British aren't giving. Of course, if they give these back, then they have to return nearly everything in the museum. Meanwhile, in Athens there is a state-of-the-art museum with an empty section waiting for their return. Meanwhile the Brits point out the they rescued and preserved the marbles. The argument is all Greek to me, but we'll see what happens
Similar to baseball, there are only three true outcomes: either all are returned, some are returned, or none are returned.
(Editor: This might be the best linkage of ancient Greece to baseball ever made. Writer: I would appreciate a Laurel, and Hearty handshake for that accomplishment.)
The marble panels fill up a massive rectangular shaped gallery with friezes, pediments, and metopes. Many are damaged, but I don't want to imply they were damaged in the seizing and shipping portion of Lord Elgin's plunder -- I don't know, they could have been damaged well before he rescued them for the world.
(Editor: Nice job taking both sides in that last paragraph. "Seizing," "plunder" but also "rescued." Writer: Even though I play one on TV, I'm no dummy.)
Even damaged, they are all impressive. and tell quite story.
The metopes decorated the gaps between the crossbeams above the Parathenon's columns. They feature brawls between centaurs and humans at a wedding feast after the centaurs get drunk and try to carry off the women. Talk about wedding crashers. It's a metaphor for the struggle between human civilization and animal-like barbarism.
We went and saw a few other things in the museum, but those three (Egypt, Assyria, and Greece) are definitely the highlights.
We decided not to press our luck and go to the British Library, instead going back to the apartment to get ready for our evening adventure of Cowboy Romeo & Juliet at the Globe Theatre.
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