How to See the British Museum in Four VisitsJerrold, Blanchard
History
How to See the British Museum in Four Visits
Jerrold, Blanchard
British Museum
Before the fifth pilaster is a notable piece of sculpture found in the
villa of Antoninus Pius--an erect figure of the youthful Bacchus
clothed in the skin of a panther; and here also is a square altar
ornamented with sphinxes in bas-relief, Apollo, Diana, and various
religious symbols. A colossal toe attracts considerable attention in
this division. It may have been an ornament in the rooms of an
Eisenberg of the ancients, but more probably has been lost by a god.
Let the visitor pause here before the terminal bust of Aeschines the
orator, who impeached Demosthenes out of jealousy for his popularity
with the people of Athens, and sullenly retired, after losing his
cause and being mulcted of a thousand drachmas as the accuser, to
Rhodes, where he occupied himself in teaching rhetoric. Other terminal
statues occur in this division. Among these, in a glass, are small
terminal busts, joined back to back, of Bacchus and Libera; three
yellow and red marble heads of Libera; a yellow marble bearded
Bacchus; and the bust of a Greek poet discovered at Bitolia.
Hereabouts also are, a female head, the eyes of which have traces of
inlaying; a bas-relief of Antinous; a curious female head, with the
hair of a distinct block of marble, fitted upon it; the head of a
child from Rome; the head of Jupiter from the corner of a sarcophagus;
busts of Hercules and Serapis; a remarkable altar in the Egyptian
style, curiously carved with the bull Apis, and Harpocrates drawn in a
car by a hippopotamus. Turning to the upper shelf, the visitor will
notice a satyr playing on a flute; six Amazons carved upon the
fragment of a sarcophagus; and a sarcophagus found at Tusculum, with
representations of Cupids bearing away the arms of Mars. A series of
busts are deposited upon the lower shelf. These include busts of the
wife of the Emperor Domitian; bust of Olympia; bust of the wife of
Hadrian, Julia Sabina; bust of Tiberius; and a bust of Augustus.
Before leaving this room the visitor should not fail to notice a few
antiquities which should particularly interest him. These form a group
of relics found in this country. They illustrate the doings of the
Romans in this country.
ANTIQUITIES OF BRITAIN.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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