Finding the Pictures...

Though I must admit that since I am the photographer of all the images I used, the actual hunt for images was quite easy. When I was actually documenting all of these objects, the process was a good bit harder. While the British Museum encourages photography, working with crowds, limited hours, and the nuisance of reflective glass cases proved a daunting task. In addition, my digital camera experienced an early demise on the second day so I fully understand the pain of the dollars-to-pounds conversion rate. Though lucky to already have these images, the actual process was much worse than searching government websites.

On the digital side, cropping these images was tedious and searching my picture folder for the appropriate piece to best convey my theme was more difficult than I expected. I wanted the image to be “just right” and when I have ten images of the same object, the task isn’t always simple. When posting my images to my blog, I found it difficult to determine if the post preview would accurately translate to the finished blog post. Even after my actual posting of the assignment, the piece still required several additional edits. Finally, to properly document the objects, I spent significant time digging through a stack of handwritten notes while crosschecking catalogue numbers on the British Museum website.

Upon completion however, I realize this assignment reinforced the power of images, an aspect often ignored in history (most history books left the pictures behind back in middle school) while introducing the importance of choosing the “right” visual representation.

The Naval Battle at Actium, 31BC

Cleopatra VII (69BC-30BC), was the ethnic Macedonian ruler of Egypt. The last Ptolemaic queen of Egypt, Cleopatra with her Roman consort, Mark Antony, attempted to create a Mediterranean empire, centered in the East, to rival that of Rome in the first century BC. With the wealth of Egypt and newly obtained lands in the Near East, Cleopatra was a powerful adversary to the Roman empire. In addition, Caesarion, her son by Julius Caesar, was a potential threat to the legitimacy of Rome's new leader, Octavian, the designated heir of Caesar.

(GR1879.7-12.15 (Sculpture 1873), Castellani Head, 80-40 BC, Italy. London: British Museum. Photograph taken by author.)


Octavian (63BC-14BC), later Augustus Caesar, was the first emperor of the Roman Empire. The adopted son of Julius Caesar, he was the inheritor of Caesar's position as defacto ruler of Rome after decades of civil war. At the Donations of Alexandria in 34BC, Mark Antony, earlier an ally of Octavian, gave Roman land in the Near East to Cleopatra and recognized Caesarion as Caesar's legitimate heir. A threat to both Roman security and Octavian, Cleopatra and her aspirations of an Eastern empire could not be ignored for much longer.
(GR1911.9-1.1, Bronze head of Augustus, c27-25BC, from Sudan. London: British Museum. Photograph taken by author.)

The combined land and naval forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra established camp at Actium on the western coast of Greece in 31BC. Hardly a mere observer, Cleopatra supplied both the funds and the majority of the fleet for the campaign. In addition, she actually commanded those naval forces. Roman forces cut off Antony's legions on land and Marcus Agrippa, Octavian's naval commander and close friend, trapped the Egyptian ships off the coast. Undermanned due to disease and desertion, Antony's warships were defeated on September 2, 31BC. This victory ensured Octavian's position in Rome and lead to his adoption of the title Princeps (first citizen) and his acceptance of the ephitet "Augustus" from the Roman senate.

(GR1872.12.14.1 (Bronze 830), Bronze prow of a boat or small ship. London: British Museum. Photograph taken by author.)


After the defeat, Cleopatra and Antony fled back to Alexandria with Octavian's forces in pursuit. With Roman forces nearing the capitol, Mark Antony and Cleopatra both committed suicide in 30BC. Scholars are unsure of her chosen method of death, but tradition (and contemporary Roman sources) conclude Cleopatra died by a self-inflicted snakebite. Some sort of poison is likely, but the serpentine image still exists in modern representations of Cleopatra. After all, the uraeus (sacred cobra) was long associated with pharaonic power in Egypt.

(MME Franks Bequest 1897 AF3316, Naples, 1790-1800. London: British Museum. Photograph taken by author.)


Before and after the battle at Actium, Roman propaganda portrayed Cleopatra as both whore and Oriental despot, a false image that persists into the modern day. Cleopatra was condemned in literary propaganda, such as the Aeneid and other state-sponsored poetry, as well as visual forms such as the oil lamp above. This propaganda was important because the first century BC was marked by a series of Roman civil wars; therefore, Octavian could not admit that Romans were again fighting other Romans (Antony and his forces). To legitimize the engagement at Actium, Octavian portrayed Cleopatra as the sole enemy of Rome. State propaganda reinforced this concept through the depiction of Cleopatra as the overly sexual Eastern queen.

(GR 1865.11-18.249 (Lamp Q 900), Terracotta Lamp with a Caricatured Scene, Italy, 40-80 AD. London: British Museum. Photograph taken by author.)

A History of St. Valentine

The historical figure of St. Valentine is widely debated. At least three potential “Valentines” have been identified as candidates for the saint. Valentine, or in Latin, Valentinus, may have been a priest who assisted persecuted Christians and was subsequently jailed and beheaded on February 14^th by the Roman emperor Claudius II or he might have been a Christian martyr from the province of Africa persecuted for marrying Christian couples in secret. However, Valentine was most likely the Catholic bishop of Interamna (modern day Terni) beheaded by Claudius II in 269 AD and buried along the Via Flaminia. In fact, the Flaminian Gate, now the Porta Del Popolo, was once known as the Gate of St. Valentine. St. Valentine is credited with restoring the sight of his jailer’s daughter, and according to legend, before his death, Valentine sent her a note signed “From your Valentine”. St. Valentine is the patron saint of affianced couples, lovers, love, beekeepers, and happy marriages. Since Valentine supposedly suffered from epilepsy, he is also the patron saint of epilepsy and fainting.

In 496 AD, Pope Gelasius recognized February 14^th as a feast day in honor of the saint. This date was perhaps chosen to coincide with the pagan fertility festival of Lupercalia on February 15^th although the festival shares nothing with the current holiday. Originally a shepherd festival, Lupercalia was held in the Lupercal, the place where the mythical founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, were suckled by a she-wolf. Supposedly a very sexual animal, goats were sacrificed at altar to honor the god Lupercus, and the goatskins were then flayed and cut into thongs. The priests or Luperci would then run through the streets of Rome ceremonially whipping willing participants, especially women, with the goatskin thongs to encourage fecundity. The modern notion that Lupercalia involved a lottery where young men drew the names of the young women who would be their sexual partners for the following year is dismissed by most historians. The choice of the date, February 14^th, may also refer to the medieval belief that birds chose their mates in the middle of February as described in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Parliament of Foules: “For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day/ Whan every foul cometh to choose his mate.”

Due to the mystery surrounding St. Valentine however, since 1969, the Roman Catholic Church no longer acknowledges his feast day although some parishes still honor the martyr. The majority of his relics lie in the church of St. Praxedes in Rome, but the church of Blessed St. John Duns Scotus in Glascow, Scotland also placed relics of St. Valentine on display beginning in 1999 to garner support for the church and the city. However, Irish Catholics also claim St. Valentine’s remains lie in a casket at Whitefriar Church in Dublin. It seems even St. Valentine’s bones are up for contention.

This essay on St. Valentine was quite difficult because many of the websites I consulted contradicted each other with respect to the smaller details. Additionally, information on St. Valentine was unable from the foremost Catholic authority, the Vatican, since Valentine’s feast day in no longer celebrated on the Church calendar. Because the origins of both the saint and his celebration are contested, it is unsurprising that online articles devoted to him also contradicted their facts. Several of the Catholic websites recognized the festival of Lupercalia as the reason for Valentine’s February 14^th feast day although a description of Lupercalia on the University of Chicago’s LacusCurtius, an ancient Roman sourcebook, quickly squashed that theory.

I was disappointed to discover the superficiality of Catholic Online and American Catholic, two prominent online sites for the Roman Catholic faithful. In my own Catholic religious studies during my youth, I was required to study various saints, especially before Confirmation when each Confirmation candidate chose a special patron saint whose name the candidate would adopt. Today, that background research to choose the “right” saint is no longer conducted with books on the saints but online. How can anyone grow in their faith when online publications are so sorely lacking? The Catholic Church must embrace these new technologies.

During my online research, I avoided referencing Wikipedia when writing my essay; though afterwards, I read its article on St. Valentine, and surprisingly, I found it more expansive and thorough than any of the online Catholic sources I consulted. Wikipedia even addressed the debate over Valentine’s Day and its relation to Lupercalia. Finally, though the research was time-consuming, I had two advantages over the average student with this assignment. First, I am Roman Catholic so I have experience navigating the online Catholic world and I understand the importance of saints in the Roman Catholic faith. More importantly, I focused on the early Roman empire as an undergraduate and took four years of high school Latin; therefore, I was already very familiar with the festival of Lupercalia.

Review of the British Museum Website

The British Museum’s online site fulfills two important missions for the Museum; first, to encourage the general public to visit the actual Museum location in London and secondly, to provide an avenue for learning and research. Overall, the website is a complete success; the funds and effort involved with a site such as this are impressive.

At first glance, the home page is ascetically pleasing; the Museum’s color themes of black and white are accented by light blue tones. The result is classic without being too bland. The main page provides all the essentials for a visit to the British Museum. Visiting hours, entrance fees (none- the Museum is free), and special exhibitions are prominently displayed. Currently, the Museum is promoting a showcase of the terracotta soldiers from China. To grab the online viewer’s attention and for those of us unable to visit the Museum, the page also offers an “Explore” feature with its most popular items, a mystery object, and a link to the Museum’s online slideshow tours. Devoid of advertising throughout the entire site, the home page does offer a link to online museum shopping (anyone want a replica faïence hippo?) as well as children’s activities.

For such a massive museum in real-life (I spent three days there and still didn’t see every gallery), the website is extremely well-organized and showcases the things “not to be missed” in the Museum’s extensive collection. The Museum itself is very visitor-friendly and easy to navigate, and this aspect translates well to the website. The Visiting tab on the navigation toolbar is the most useful link for the average Museum patron. This page provides additional information for potential visitors- directions, on-location tour information, and the floor plan for the entirety of the British Museum. The floor plan is especially helpful because it provides a layout of this three level, multi-roomed building and links to each gallery with a brief description of the room in addition to the most popular artifacts on display there.

With the Museum’s enormous collection both on and off display, the website incorporates the most popular objects on display. For the visitor with limited time, the Explore tab provides the top items in a variety of categories. The online viewer can narrow by location, department, time period, popularity, or even what an artifact is made out of. Helpful to determine what the Museum has to offer, this function also enables a potential visitor to plan a visit.

Finally, since many visitors to the British Museum are children (thankfully they’re too short to block the view of the Rosetta Stone), the website offers links to children’s activities and for the teachers, there are learning opportunities incorporating the Museum. The page for family and children’s activities is readily accessible from the home page or Visiting page. It presents a listing of children’s events at the Museum, downloadable coloring pages, a daily children’s question answered by a Museum curator, and streaming media. Today, children could watch a Chinese New Year dragon dance in the main entryway of the Museum. This web page provides helpful hints for making a trip to the Museum enjoyable for both children and their parents; there are a great number of services available on location, from children’s Museum trails to free coloring books & crayons. The British Museum also encourages children to visit for school trips. The Learning feature provides educators multiple options for incorporating a Museum trip into the lesson plan. The page provides .pdf versions of lessons applicable before a visit in addition to award-winning Ancient Civilization websites which incorporate flash media and downloadable resources. The online section also includes information on actual sessions taught at the Museum if the school trip isn’t only for touring the British Museum. Easy to navigate and informative, the Learning option is divided into primary and secondary education levels.

Learning is not limited to just children on the British Museum’s website. The British Museum presents research opportunities to the general public as well. Available at the top corner of every page, the Museum’s search engine allows the viewer to search over 4000 selected items in the museum collection. It provides object search results and relevant related items, articles, and any online tours incorporating the subject matter. Though you cannot search the entire collection, the search function allows a potential researcher to evaluate what the Museum has to offer and how best to expand a search. Each item in the search catalogue has a high-resolution image, brief description, catalogue number, and location. This search feature is essential for background preparation before any research visit to the Museum. The Research feature on the website allows a researcher to make appointments to view any object in department study rooms or view rare or limited access publications in the Museum’s two research libraries. You can even make an appointment for a keeper to identify a personal archaeological treasure. Each department’s web page follows the exact same format so it is easy to learn about departmental research projects, contact information for keepers and curators (they actually do reply to their emails!), gallery information, and web resources- basically the best websites associated with a department. In addition, the Museum has its entire two-dimensional collection digitalized to search and a database of recent archaeological finds brought to the Museum for identification.

The research capabilities of the British Museum website enabled me to properly prepare for my research opportunity at the British Museum. I was able to contact department keepers to arrange the use of study rooms, search out items on permanent display, as well as simply finding out the pertinent background information necessary to successful utilize a museum of this size. A visit to London is not complete without a stop at the British Museum but if you are not traveling across the pond anytime soon, the British Museum website is not to be missed.