Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, part 8
Feb. 28th, 2008 01:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragoness_eRosicrucian Egyptian Museum, part 1
Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, part 2
Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, part 3
Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, part 4
Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, part 5
Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, part 6
Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, part 7
Welcome to the last installment of my visit to the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum. This time, we visit the museum's small Babylonian collection. At one time, this museum was called the Rosicrucian Oriental Museum, back in the day when 'oriental' meant 'Middle Eastern' more than "East Asian', and a Babylonian/Sumerian section would have been perfectly normal to have in a museum otherwise full of Egyptian artifacts. Now, the Babylonian section has quite a few educational displays tying it into the Egyptian theme of the museum, mostly as an Egyptian trade partner. Egypt has imported Sumerian and Babylonian goods since before recorded history, and exported raw materials to the rest of the Middle East. It has also suffered the attacks of Assyria and Persia.
Spirit House and Cylinder Seal
The 'spirit house' was a tomb model like we find in Egypt, for the use of the spirit of the deceased. It's also a model of a Babylonian house of that period. Like most Middle Eastern dwellings, it had flat roofs and a 2nd story. Unlike Egyptian houses, it had timber rafters. Large trees were more common in the Fertile Crescent than they were in ancient Egypt.
Sumerian and later cultures used cylinder seals as signatures. You 'signed' a document with your seal, rolled out in the damp clay of a tablet. There are quite a few cylinder seals in the museum collection, but I didn't photograph them. One looks pretty much like another, except for this one.
Model of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
We don't know exactly what the Hanging Gardens of Babylon looked like, but this museum model was built based on ancient descriptions.
Model of the Ziggurat of Marduk in Babylon
This model represents the Etemenaki, or Ziggurat of Marduk in Babylon. A ziggurat was a Babylonian temple-pyramid; this particular one may have been the inspiration for, or the original, of the biblical Tower of Babel.
Winged Dieties of Babylon
I note that the imagery of winged angels comes into the Bible during the Babylonian Captivity. Before that, they were not described closely, save as terrifying messengers of God, or appeared as men.
Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, part 2
Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, part 3
Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, part 4
Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, part 5
Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, part 6
Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, part 7
Welcome to the last installment of my visit to the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum. This time, we visit the museum's small Babylonian collection. At one time, this museum was called the Rosicrucian Oriental Museum, back in the day when 'oriental' meant 'Middle Eastern' more than "East Asian', and a Babylonian/Sumerian section would have been perfectly normal to have in a museum otherwise full of Egyptian artifacts. Now, the Babylonian section has quite a few educational displays tying it into the Egyptian theme of the museum, mostly as an Egyptian trade partner. Egypt has imported Sumerian and Babylonian goods since before recorded history, and exported raw materials to the rest of the Middle East. It has also suffered the attacks of Assyria and Persia.
Spirit House and Cylinder Seal
The 'spirit house' was a tomb model like we find in Egypt, for the use of the spirit of the deceased. It's also a model of a Babylonian house of that period. Like most Middle Eastern dwellings, it had flat roofs and a 2nd story. Unlike Egyptian houses, it had timber rafters. Large trees were more common in the Fertile Crescent than they were in ancient Egypt.
Sumerian and later cultures used cylinder seals as signatures. You 'signed' a document with your seal, rolled out in the damp clay of a tablet. There are quite a few cylinder seals in the museum collection, but I didn't photograph them. One looks pretty much like another, except for this one.
Model of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
We don't know exactly what the Hanging Gardens of Babylon looked like, but this museum model was built based on ancient descriptions.
Model of the Ziggurat of Marduk in Babylon
This model represents the Etemenaki, or Ziggurat of Marduk in Babylon. A ziggurat was a Babylonian temple-pyramid; this particular one may have been the inspiration for, or the original, of the biblical Tower of Babel.
Winged Dieties of Babylon
I note that the imagery of winged angels comes into the Bible during the Babylonian Captivity. Before that, they were not described closely, save as terrifying messengers of God, or appeared as men.
