This guy is brilliant! His enthusiasm is almost as appealling as his expertise. One thing I take from this, is that hieroglyphic Egyptian is a truly ridiculous and difficult language to learn. Damned impressed it ever got decyphered.
The only more absurd thing I've heard is Cuneiform. Which has the same combination of alphabetic, pictorial, and determinative meanings, with the added complexity that different words in the same text can be in Sumerian, Akkadian, or Babylonian. Which despite being written with the same symbols are very different language, with Sumerian being a total unrelated language isolate. The closest analogue I can think of, would be trying to solve a pub-quiz-type cryptic rebus puzzle, but where some symbols have to be read in English, some in Latin, and some in pinyin Chinese. It's insane such a system was a working written form of communication for millennia, let alone that it can be deciphered today!
Ancient scripts were often intentionally difficult to read, if reading was a magical secret of a priesthood. You wouldn't want just any uninitiated nobody to figure it out. There are examples of languages that started out with a fairly straightforward writing system that was later purposely obfuscated to make it easier to keep proprietary.
He was born for this role! fantastic costuming! It gives me hope for humanity to see someone who has truly found 'their place' in life. They bring joy into the world simply by existing!
@@lillotusplays perhaps he didn’t have a mirror? It does seem like he has his pants on crooked. I shouldn’t talk though my spine is crooked and I probably look pretty awkward on the outside.
I visited this beautiful museum in 1974 from Australia. My father dragged me there as a teenager. The reluctant visit turned into a memory of a lifetime. It is a museum within a museum and is lucky to have Jonty Stern doing that superb commentary. Thanks for this video!
The private collections of eccentrics always make the most fascinating museums. I think it's because they're a labour of love. I went to a death mask museum once... I can't imagine who'd want to adorn their house with the faces of corpses, but thank goodness they did. I got to look Isaac Newton eye to eye(lid).
My favorite musuem of an eccentric up to now is Invano Brunis house located in Arezzo. He was an antiquarian over decades there and left an impressing collection of antiques from centuries.
I thought Isaac's death mask was in the central hall of the Royal Society off The Mall? I'm pretty sure I saw it there not so long ago, and it's not exactly a museum or anyone's house. Are there multiple versions of his death mask out there? Copies, fakes, or all genuine?
@@QuantumHistorian they made more than one. So I suppose it isn't _the_ death mask, per se, but it is contemporary. At least that was my understanding.
@@QuantumHistorian so this piqued my interest, there were multiple copies made at the time. But apparently his death mask was something of a popular gift item in 19th century France, scholars would be given a copy, and cheap plaster replicas were popular. I'd like to visit the museum again now to find out! I was told it was contemporary, but perhaps it's not! Unfortunately, I don't think it's possible to get there right now.
When I was studying for the Bar I spent a lot of time in Sir John Soane's Museum when I should really have been in the library at Lincoln's Inn... still passed for the Bar, but also developed a great love for both the Museum and antiquities.
Honorific transposition is such a fascinating linguistics concept. It really shows just how pious the ancient Egyptians could be - their Gods were more important to them than the most basic structures of their language.
Ten years ago on my first (and so far only) trip to Britain, I made sure to see this. We were staying just west of the British Museum, so it was just a few blocks walk to the house. I had the best time exploring! So many cool things on display and the layout was the definition of labyrinthine. Since they restrict how many people are allowed in at a time, it wasn’t too crowded, either.
Dr. G! About fifty years ago my American relatives who lived in Darien, Connecticut took me to see the Barnum & Bailey Museum in some part of that world. There, unwrapped and pretty hideous to look at was the 'stripped' mummy of Seti. In that moment I developed an absolute loathing for the perfectly acceptable plundering of Egyptian tombs. Years later my cousin became involved in the illegal selling of Egyptian artifacts and after one gala, private evening in a Montréal gallery where objects were sold for thousands and thousands of dollars, I never spoke to him again. His boyfriend was the then director of a major national museum. At this time, in Montréal, amateur graverobbers were digging up graves all over the mountain looking for gold and silver objects among the dead. Sepulchers pried open, mausolea exploded open. Then, when they went after one particular area - what a surprise! They were digging into a 19th century common grave for those dead from tuberculosis. The papers were full of warnings about the dormancy of of TB in the soil and these creeps were selling the bones to medical students. Now, all these year later, here where I live, my property ends before the shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence where there's a tiny burial ground for the settlers of the early 1700's. Three years ago I came across these (and I'm sorry to say so) these Americans, happily digging away. I was with my two Rottweilers, who are actually called Pinky and Sweetie, but I said, "Git 'em Diablo! Git 'em Satan". And I think they thought it was a game but they chased those damn Yankees all the way down the shore.
That’s rough to hear, I’m glad you did your part to protect ancient history. And apologies for my fellow Americans😂 we’re all not that disrespectful of history
Although previous damage cant be undone, more and more work is being done to leave tombs alone after studying them and repair or reconstruct older ones! And at the very least the modern Egyptian government keeps a much closer eye on everything than the Ottoman Khedivs and British colonial governors did
The image of the Bank of England you show is of the part of the building that Soane did not design. Although parts of Sloane's Bank still exist, most of the building was demolished in the 1930s and the shocking abomination of a building by Sir Herbert Baker plopped down on the remaining fragments of Soane's masterpiece. Soane's 19th century Bank was a one-story building that was inadequate for the bank's operations in the 20th century.
This museum isn't listed in the major guidebooks (e.g., Eyewitness guides), right? This is so frustrating. I've been to London multiple times and I totally missed such an interesting museum... Are there guides that Do mention small but wonderful museums like that?
There is a website called Atlas Obscura which has a map and articles about strange and interesting locations all over the world, not all of the listings are great but it has a lot of places like this on
"Owing to the narrow passages in the house, all decked with Soane's extensive collections, only 90 visitors are allowed in the museum at any given time, and a formation of queue outside for entry is not unusual. "
I really aspire to be like this man right here, so excited about history and so happy to talk about it, and he also knows so much about it, it feels like one could talk to him for hours about this. I wish to become so cultured about history like him :)
I have visited this museum several times. It's absolutely fascinating...every single corner is jammed with something and it's all as Soane designed it to be. Really worth going. They do free tours pointing everything out, but I think you have to book. Seti's mummy is in the BM, I think - an absolutely regal and autocratic face.
Great! one more place added to the must visit list! The list gets longer as my time gets shorter. BTW check out Figeac in southern France - Champolion's birth place - has a town square floored with a giant replica of the Rosetta Stone. You can walk on it. Plus the town has a nice language museum with some of Champolion's original notebooks where he puzzles it all out.
Absolutely fascinating! I really need to pay a visit when I get the opportunity. Thanks to the curator and to you, Garrett, for this informative video.
Brilliant video! Thank you so much for making it. I could listen to the curator all day long. Sir John Soane's Museum is wonderful. Highly recommended for visitors to London.
Dear Garrett (I hope you won't mind the casual tone). I hope that you will find this message! Thank you once more for a great video (I've been enjoying your channel since its beginnings!) on one of my favourite places in London... and indeed the world ;) I can't wait to go back. This video is also very timely as, as mentioned in the interview, Champollion deciphered the hieroglyphics in 1822. As this is the centennial of this discovery, several museums and municipalities of France are organising exhibits and events which might interest you and some of your viewers. Off the top of my head, I know that the Louvre Lens and the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon are organising exhibits. On an unrelated topic, you might have been made aware that Highland Titles (I'm not sure of the name) and the Japanese cutlery company which have sometimes supported your channel are in somewhat of a controversy at the moment. I would advise the utmost caution. An eye-opening enquiry has been made by Scott Shafer on this matter and at least one RU-vidr I follow has reacted to it. All the best to you and to your channel! I would love it if you had the opportunity of visiting some French Roman sites in the future. Warm regards.
So that’s a dude that LOVES what he does. Man he was pumped to tell that story, for probably the hundredth time too. Love that kinda detailed explanations. Thanks to both of you
I would like to have a cup of tea with this gentleman and just sit back and listen to him speak. My only complaint is I really could not see much of the sarcophagus. Fascinating!!
Man, all I could think is I need too see this place someday! I like the longer video. Still totally loving your book. Absolutely the best book I’ve bought in a while. I recommend it highly! Keep up the good work! -Justin
Seven men back then ok well the average guy weighed about 100 pounds with clothes and it not like the average guy ate three meals so we can assume they were malnourished and agree about 100lb, so for him at 7 ft tall that was easy enough
Cool artifact but shouldn't this be repatriated to Egypt? Few nations have to thoroughly ransacked and robbed so many ancient cultures as Great Britain.
Why would you want it in Egypt? I'll never understand how people justify saying that only the super rich should get to experience foreign culture. Disgusting.
That's disgusting. Why is all this stuff in the UK? Why don't they send all those artifacts back to Egypt and Greece. They DON'T BELONG IN THE UK. The Egyptians and Greeks HAVE Exceptionally good facilities to house these artifacts of THERI OWN history. Don't the UK have ancient artifacts?
Why would you want the artifacts to be in Egypt? So that only people rich enough to travel to Egypt can experience its culture? Height of classier snobbery
Our entire modern civilization is ephemeral. The very, very far future, if any beings are around to investigate the Earth, will still be able to read stone inscriptions of early civilizations. But what will they do with our magnetic tapes and shiny discs? None of them are likely to be readable even if machines to read them still exist (actually already a problem). They might be able to figure out vinyl records. Those are physical carvings, after all. Books and magazines, sure, but will any of them tell how we destroyed ourselves? I mean, they might not even mention TikTok.
Love the video! That bit on the way hieroglyphs were read was fascinating. Out of curiosity, who is the roman bust of the child near the sarcophagus representing? It seems very familiar.
Thank you :) It's Polydeukes, whom Herodes Atticus had fallen in love with. Herodes was devastated when the young man died and he went on to create a sort of cult in Polydeukes' honour. There were games, inscriptions, busts and so on all dedicated to the memory of the young fellow. Sadly Herodes Atticus himself didn't live for very long after Polydeukes' passing.
Thanks! That was fascinating! Such a knowledgeable and enthusiastic guide! This video deserves to be preserved for a few thousand years, itself, as part of what at times makes our own times great.
I could listen to Mr. Stern all day. He does an excellent job presenting the history, evidence and artifacts. Great level of expertise. Just fantastic. His explanation of Egyptian hieroglyphics is better than anything I have seen. Keep the good material coming.
I’m from the Deep South in the States. It’s so hard to understand this presenter. We speak so much slower. I’m gonna slow down the speed and see what happens. lol
