(The British museum)
There I am, outside the colossal British museum, Why am I there you may ask? Surprisingly, its not just to show off my curious coral T-shirt around Bloomsbury, I am in fact there in a lazy effort to become inspired. This is a result of my recent realisation that my attention span and interest levels have an acute sort of half-life. So there I am, outside the British museum with the hope that when I enter, and behold the wonders within, I will be seized by spectacular and irresistible inspiration, unearthing the industrious hero inside me. To be fair, it’s the least that the British museum can do for me, I have got out of bed before 10 am and trekked across Londinum at the expense of a score note. (Honestly, I may try and claim it back, talk to Boris Johnson, classicist to classicist). Luckily I didn’t have to do this on my own, my friend Jamie (who took the photo of me) came along for the potentially enlightening trip. I’m sure he was under the impression that going to a museum with his mate who is a Classics student, would prove to be a winning combination, I was going to make this so, by winging it at least.
As I turned around to face the Greek revival façade, I must say I had an incling that this was going to be an inspirational visit. I take in a deep breath, puff out my chest, and exhale whilst saying “yep, that’s an imitation of the ol’ Parthenon in Athens”, Jamie replies “really?”, I keep nodding my head, eyes closed, biting my bottom lip “yeaah”. Of course I am completely wrong. Through further research I found out it is in fact based on the temple of Athena Priene in Asia Minor (Turkey). But anyway, regardless of its specific origin it still sparked off the same notion in my mind. Why is it that classically inspired buildings like these are so successful and widely spread in the modern world? Buildings with Ionic columns support spectacular pediments all over the world, in all cultures, London to Washington DC, Buenos Aires to Mumbai.
I thought of something I had come across whilst studying at uni, (don’t worry, this was in-between all the cliché activities of being a raucous student) about how the images in the Parthenon frieze were plagiarised from the Persian Apadana in Persepolis. The Athenians did this as a kind of satirical diss against the Persians, sort of saying “we are just as good as you, but we invented this thing called democracy, so unlike you, we are only bitch to the gods, and a not a mortal ponce”. As a result the Parthenon frieze and the Apadana reliefs at Persepolis are frequently invoked as symbols of polarity for Greek democracy and Persian despotism. I don’t think that as humans we have changed that much since this episode in history, I mean isn’t the Whitehouse or the houses of parliament the same thing? a form of one-upmanship using the notion of democracy as an anchor. I also thought to myself how amazing it was that an idea that was implemented thousands of years ago, thousands of years!? still resonates with the world today.I find it truly perplexing that the actions of people that long ago still resonate. However, this feeling is the whole reason people love history, and I haven’t stumbled across anything new in the slightest. Either way,I hadn’t even entered the building and it had got my brain working, and out of its vegetative state, it was now a piece of meat.
The initial wow factor of the museum interior was slightly corked due to the fact that I had to negotiate my through a plethora of identically dressed Italian students, who were all buzzing with excitement in the way that only a school trip can induce. I was completely pre-occupied with making sure my Nikon didn’t take a knock in the sea of shiny puffer jackets (evidently the totally kewlest thing in Italy right about now’) that I couldn’t really appreciate the classical surroundings. Having emerged from the melee unscathed, I checked my cam and then looked up at the atrium of the museum. Awesome is a word that is completely over used in conversation and journalism, and I don’t want to water down these ramblings of mine, but there is simply no other word I can use, It was full of awe, but far from awful (see what I did there?). The marble floors pulled me forward and I had an overwhelming urge to invade the space created by the celestial ceiling that I bet even Icarus would have trouble reaching. In fact, with the Latinate jabbering of the Italian students behind me, it was easy to imagine standing in the Roman comitium. This was precisely why i had come, to be transported to a classical context, and not have to pay the ridiculous prices that time machines are charging these days. The Circular reading room in front of me, mimicked the Panthenon of Rome and transformed in front of me as i was in my trance. Caught up in the world of Rome I thought of one of the great Romans like Cicero making his way across the forum, I was now ready to lose my head in history (not like the statesman however).
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