London Calling: Part Two

King’s Cross Station now has a space age roof on top of it, as you can see from the above picture, and for history buffs like myself it is good news that the British Museum is only one tube stop away from here, at Russell Square, and the new British Library, which houses most manuscripts, is only blocks from King’s Cross station— an easy walk.

Here is the main entrance to the British Museum…

I came to see the Pompeii and Herculaneum exhibit, and the Coins of the Bible exhibit, but there was other important things to check out as well, for instance…

This is the earliest carved image of the crucifixion, probably 4th century (there are earlier graffiti images of Jesus’ crucifixion (see my Invitation to the NT volume). Notice in this little image (which is about six inches wide by four inches high) that we also have Judas hanging himself.

Here we have the famous 30 pieces of silver (Tyrian shekels in this case with the image of Hercules on them) used to pay off Judas

In the same Coins of the Bible exhibit (which was actually quite small), we have an 2nd century fragment of John’s Gospel…

This exhibit was next to the Greco-Roman hall, and here are a few statues of interest…. first of a scribe teaching a boy…

And here’s one of female gladiators…

Or a bust which gives us an idea about patrician women’s hair styles…

Here’s a very nice image of a young Roman boy who lived in the Roman province of Syria.

There was a very nice, new exhibit about Greco-Roman dining inside the front door of the museum….

Besides paintings of dining scenes, there was also a picture of an actual dining area…

During WWII in Mendenhall, Suffolk, a huge treasure trove was found, of silver dining dishes which were part of a Roman villa’s serving equipment…. Here is a shot of the entire haul from Mendenhall, and then a close up of a gigantic ornate silver servicing platter…