Ashmolean Museum

I finally managed to make my way to the museum I had been wanting to see since the beginning. the Ashmolean Museum. Not only the oldest museum in Britain, but also one of the coolest in my opinion. Started as an eclectic collection by a British Antiquarian (the name of whom I have as usual forgotten) it once contained interesting objects such as the only remaining part (the foot) of a Dodo in the world (now moved to another Museum). What it did still hold was beyond interesting and extremely varied.

The first part I wandered through was very old and made up of cultures such as Sumerian and Assyrian. It also contained a lot of very interesting cuneiform pieces, the one on below (left) was especially interesting in my opinion. It was the Sumerian King list dating from around 1800 B.C. It told of a legendary flood that covered Mesopotamia - and it is probably inspired the writing of the great flood in the Bible.

 There was also an interesting, though very small, exhibition on prehistoric humans which showcased the clear differences between species.

The section on Egypt wasn't the biggest I've been to but it well made it for it in the pieces it held. From this crocodile like head of Sobek to mummies galore.

Beautiful tomb walls.

This rather unexciting looking stone made my day. It is in fact 'The Tale of Sinuhe' and I studied it in university. It is the largest surviving limestone fragment from ancient Egypt and talks about a courtier who travels in the Levant. It was interesting to study due to the politics and trade links it revealed. Mainly, it was extremely exciting to simply stumble across it!

This was another interesting thing I came across. These gilded bronze letters are from the gate of Hadrian the emperor. They were built to commemorate his visit in South-West Turkey and spell out 'Traiano' in Greek which marks him as the adopted son and heir