deepstash
Beta
History of Museums - From Oldest to Modern Museums
The meaning of "museum"
- The word "museum" comes from Ancient Greek "mouseion" which meant "seat of Muses." It was used as a place for contemplation.
- In Rome, "museum" was a place used for philosophical discussions.
- In the 15th century, the word "museum" was used to describe the collection of Lorenzo de Medici in Florence.
- Only in the 17th century was "museum" used to describe collections of curiosities.
- In 1677, the collection of John Tradescant was moved to the University of Oxford and made available for public viewing. It marks the moment when “museum” starts being an institution and not just collection of items.
44 SAVES
152 READS
SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
The Library of Ashurbanipal
- In the mid-19th century, archaeologists found the ruins of the world's oldest known library in Nineveh (modern-day Iraq).
- It dates back to the 7th century B.C and includes 30,...
The Library of Alexandria
- The ancient world's intellectual jewel was established by general Ptolemy I Soter after Alexander the Great's death in 323 B.C.
- At its peak, it may have included over 500,000 papyrus scrolls containing works of literature and texts on history, law, mathematics, and science.
- The library was supposedly burned in 48 B.C. after Julius Caesar accidentally set fire to Alexandria's harbour during a battle against the Egyptian ruler Ptolemy XIII.
- However, most historians believe that it only came to an end in 270 A.D. during the reign of the Roman emperor Aurelian, while others believe it occurred during the fourth century.
The Library of Pergamum
- The Library of Pergamum was constructed in the third century B.C. by members of the Attalid dynasty in modern-day Turkey.
- It was housed in a temple complex devoted to Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom.
- The ancient chronicler Pliny the Elder said the Library of Pergamum became so famous that it was considered to be in "keen competition" with the Library of Alexandria.
6
Key Ideas
Describing wonder
Wonder is said to be a childish emotion. However, as adults, we experience it when gaping at something unexpectedly spectacular.
Adam Smith, an 18th-century moral philosopher, describes wond...
Bodily symptoms
The bodily symptoms of this strange appearance point to three dimensions:
- Sensory: The marvelous things take hold of our senses - we stare and widen our eyes.
- Cognitive: We are perplexed because we don't have a past experience to understand them. It leads to a suspension of breath, similar to when we are startled.
- Spiritual: We look upwards in veneration, which makes our heart swell.
The scale of wonder
At the mild end of this emotion, we talk about things being marvelous. More intense emotions might be described as astonishing. The extreme of this experiences is met with expressions of awe.
The heart and love - Ancient Greeks
In ancient Greek, lyric poetry identified the heart with love.
Greek philosophers agreed that the heart was linked to our strongest emotions, including love. Plato thought the heart was re...
The ancient Roman belief about the heart
The ancient Romans believed there was a vein extending from the fourth finger of the left hand directly to the heart.
In the medieval period in Salisbury, England, the groom was told to place a ring on the bride's fourth finger during a marriage ceremony, because of that vein.
The heart symbol in the feudal courts of Europe
During the 12th and 13th centuries, minstrels in France celebrated a form of love that we call today courtly love. The troubadour was to pledge his whole heart to only one woman and promise to be true to her forever. He'd sing to her and the members of the court to which she belonged.
During this time, artists depicted love between a couple as a fanciful tree that rises to form the outline of a heart. It carries within it a coat of arms bearing the Latin word AMOR (love).