DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1213#0045
THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 29
conquest of Lycia by the Persians, and the fall of Xan-
thus. Bodroum Marbles, in the Phigalian Saloon. "Bas-
reliefs brought to England in 1846, from Bodroum, in
Asia Minor, the site of the ancient Haliearnassus, and
presented to the British Museum by Sir Stratford Can-
ning. They are supposed to have formed part of the
mausoleum or sepulchre built in the fourth year of the
106th Olympiad, B.C. 357, by Artemisia, queen of Caria,
in honour of her husband, king Mausolus. They were
found in a fortress at the entrance of the harbour, having
been built into the faces of the exterior and interior walls.
This fortress was built by the Knights of Ehodes about
1400. The story represented is a combat of Amazons
and Greek warriors."* The Townley Collection of mar-
bles was commenced at Rome, in 1768, by Charles
Townley, Esq., of Burnley, Lancashire, and was purchased
by Parliament for £28,000. It comprehends Terra-cottas,
Greek and Roman sculptures, sepulchral antiquities, &c.
The Portland or Barberini Vase, in height 9| inches, and
in circumference 21| inches, was found in a sepulchral
vault, a few miles from Rome, on the way to Erascati,
during the papacy of Urban VIII. Sir William Hamil-
ton, British ambassador at Naples, purchased it at the sale
of the Barberini Library, and afterwards sold it to the
Duchess of Portland. It was deposited here in 1810, but
still belongs to the Duke of Portland. The figures are
displayed upon a ground of dark amethystine blue. In
February, 1845, a tasteless miscreant wantonly smashed
this beautiful vase to pieces, but it has been since so
admirably restored that the fractures in it are hardly
perceptible.
Adjoining the Egyptian Room is the Bronze Room, con-
taining Payne Knight's valuable collection of bronzes. In
the British Museum are also to be found relics excavated
from the long-buried cities of Pompeii and Herenlaneum;
a .large collection of British antiquities, including many
Roman remains tesselated pavements, &c.: collections of
* Cunningham.
conquest of Lycia by the Persians, and the fall of Xan-
thus. Bodroum Marbles, in the Phigalian Saloon. "Bas-
reliefs brought to England in 1846, from Bodroum, in
Asia Minor, the site of the ancient Haliearnassus, and
presented to the British Museum by Sir Stratford Can-
ning. They are supposed to have formed part of the
mausoleum or sepulchre built in the fourth year of the
106th Olympiad, B.C. 357, by Artemisia, queen of Caria,
in honour of her husband, king Mausolus. They were
found in a fortress at the entrance of the harbour, having
been built into the faces of the exterior and interior walls.
This fortress was built by the Knights of Ehodes about
1400. The story represented is a combat of Amazons
and Greek warriors."* The Townley Collection of mar-
bles was commenced at Rome, in 1768, by Charles
Townley, Esq., of Burnley, Lancashire, and was purchased
by Parliament for £28,000. It comprehends Terra-cottas,
Greek and Roman sculptures, sepulchral antiquities, &c.
The Portland or Barberini Vase, in height 9| inches, and
in circumference 21| inches, was found in a sepulchral
vault, a few miles from Rome, on the way to Erascati,
during the papacy of Urban VIII. Sir William Hamil-
ton, British ambassador at Naples, purchased it at the sale
of the Barberini Library, and afterwards sold it to the
Duchess of Portland. It was deposited here in 1810, but
still belongs to the Duke of Portland. The figures are
displayed upon a ground of dark amethystine blue. In
February, 1845, a tasteless miscreant wantonly smashed
this beautiful vase to pieces, but it has been since so
admirably restored that the fractures in it are hardly
perceptible.
Adjoining the Egyptian Room is the Bronze Room, con-
taining Payne Knight's valuable collection of bronzes. In
the British Museum are also to be found relics excavated
from the long-buried cities of Pompeii and Herenlaneum;
a .large collection of British antiquities, including many
Roman remains tesselated pavements, &c.: collections of
* Cunningham.