WEBVTT - Invention Playlist 4: The Museum 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:09.080 Welcome to Invention, a production of I Heart Radio. Hey 0:00:09.160 --> 0:00:11.840 you welcome to Invention. My name is Robert Lamb and 0:00:11.880 --> 0:00:15.840 I'm Joe McCormick. You know, humans are aware of history. 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:19.800 That's that's one of our our key attributes. Not always though, 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:22.319 well to varying degrees, we're aware of history, or we 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:25.119 have awareness of of of what we think history to 0:00:25.200 --> 0:00:28.360 be uh and uh. And not just our own personal history, 0:00:28.680 --> 0:00:33.080 but history across generations, across decades, across centuries, millennia. Even 0:00:33.640 --> 0:00:37.040 we're aware of what came before via oral traditions and 0:00:37.159 --> 0:00:39.440 the evidence of the world around us, even as we 0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:42.920 continually change in anticipation of the future. And then of 0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:45.720 course we have recorded history as well, and we have 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:49.880 a concept of history that goes beyond concern for literal 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:52.520 accuracy about what happened in the past. I think about 0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:56.800 everything from ancient mythologies in which people tried to construct 0:00:56.880 --> 0:01:01.000 a you know, not not literally existent version of their past, 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:04.440 but something to sort of explain the present, all the 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:07.280 way to the kinds of mythical histories that people still 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:10.280 like to engage in today. You know, ancient aliens and all, 0:01:10.520 --> 0:01:13.319 you know, half the stuff on the history shows on TV. 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:17.960 Oh yeah, inevitably history ends up melding with myth, and 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:20.000 you really don't have to go too far back in 0:01:20.080 --> 0:01:23.280 history for that to take place, for for the historical 0:01:23.360 --> 0:01:27.120 to become the legendary at least. But one thing that 0:01:27.160 --> 0:01:28.840 makes clear, I think, is that we have a kind 0:01:28.880 --> 0:01:32.440 of craving for something that we think of as history 0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:35.080 that is not always exactly the same thing as knowing 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:40.200 what's actually true about what happened X number of years ago, right, right, 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:43.760 So establishing just from the get go that the human 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:48.040 contemplation of history is in and of itself kind of 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:53.280 a complex thing. Uh, narrative becomes an essential part of it, 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:57.040 but also a complicating aspect of it. Yeah, and then 0:01:57.040 --> 0:02:00.480 their additional concerns we're going to get into, know when 0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:02.840 we when we think about history. I mean, one of 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:05.480 the things about human use of history is that we're 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:07.760 able to pass information on in a way that doesn't 0:02:07.800 --> 0:02:10.720 depend on our genetics. So a big part of it is, 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:16.640 of course just recorded histories literature about the past. But then, uh, 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:19.520 there are the artifacts of the past. Uh, there are 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:23.200 the artifacts of the distant past, the the the relatively 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:27.280 recent past, um, artifacts of the present, and all of 0:02:27.280 --> 0:02:30.799 these things find their way into museums. Yeah. I mean 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:35.560 to think about what you're feeling about ancient Egypt would 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:37.720 be if you could only have read about it and 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:40.600 you never could have seen any of its artifacts, any 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:43.839 of its artwork. You've never seen images of the pyramids, 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:49.080 never seen the ancient figurines or the sarcophag guy or 0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:52.840 anything like that, there would be a necessary texture that 0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:56.760 would be lacking. Do your understanding of what ancient Egypt was. Yeah, 0:02:56.840 --> 0:02:58.959 and of course to today, we have so many tools 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:03.079 at our disposal to say, understand ancient Egypt of one thing, 0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:05.360 We just we have a better understanding than ever before. 0:03:05.919 --> 0:03:07.360 There's still a lot of things we don't know, but 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:10.400 we but you know, we're at the bleeding edge of 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:13.840 our understanding. Um and uh. And on top of that, 0:03:13.919 --> 0:03:18.480 we have photography, we have the motion picture, we have 0:03:19.080 --> 0:03:22.280 computer imagery, we have just a whole host of of 0:03:22.360 --> 0:03:25.640 inventions that have made it, first of all, made it 0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:28.840 easier for us to understand what agent Egypt was like. 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:31.840 And it's made it easier for people all around the 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:34.560 world to get a grasp of it. Like you, you 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:38.720 no longer have to travel to ancient Egypt as certainly 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:43.120 even the Romans, did the ancient Romans uh consider in 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:47.160 their contemplation of the even more ancient Egyptians. Uh. And 0:03:47.200 --> 0:03:49.360 then likewise you don't even have to be able to 0:03:49.400 --> 0:03:52.880 travel to a museum that has artifacts that have been 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:56.520 transported from Egypt. Obviously you can go to websites, you 0:03:56.520 --> 0:04:00.040 can go to uh two books, to films, etcetera. Of 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:03.040 the museum is still important. Yeah, that's exactly right, and 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:05.560 it's important in multiple ways. I mean, I think about 0:04:05.760 --> 0:04:08.280 the two main ways it's important. Number one, of course, 0:04:08.480 --> 0:04:12.880 is just the preservation and display of artifacts to show 0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:15.120 you what they looked like, you know, to give you 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:19.039 the physical representation. But then I think equally as important 0:04:19.720 --> 0:04:24.719 is the contextualizing literature of a museum, the interpretive material. 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:27.640 Because you know, this is often pointed out by archaeologists 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:31.200 and historians that if we only form our picture of 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:35.240 a past civilization by looking at its physical artifacts, there 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:39.880 is a necessary sort of uh, filtering mechanism there. That's time. 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:43.080 You don't see all the aspects of the civilization that 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:46.320 are prone to that are biodegradable, or that are prone 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:49.680 to erosion breaking down over time. Uh, so I mean 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:53.159 there's sort of this joke about like, you know, if 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:55.440 you only look at the artifacts and you don't read 0:04:55.480 --> 0:04:59.200 about the other things or see sort of artists representations 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:01.680 of what the other thing surrounding these artifacts might have been. 0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:05.240 You could assume that everyone in ancient Egypt like walked 0:05:05.240 --> 0:05:08.320 around in stone clothes. Yeah yeah, Or you know that 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:11.280 that all the the art, all the sculpture and ancient 0:05:11.360 --> 0:05:14.480 Rome was unpainted and you know, stoic and gray. I mean, 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:18.280 it's it's essentially in this sense, the archaeological and the 0:05:18.320 --> 0:05:22.440 anthropological are very much like paleontology. Uh, you know, It's 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:25.919 it's one thing to look at the even the reassembled 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:29.840 and uh, you know, the resembled fossils of a prehistoric creature. 0:05:30.360 --> 0:05:32.159 But then there are all the things that did not 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:36.720 survive that we have to piece together, uh to get 0:05:36.760 --> 0:05:39.600 a full understanding of what this creature was or might 0:05:39.640 --> 0:05:43.200 have been. Yeah, the skin across time. Uh, that can 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:46.560 all be represented in the interpretive materials of a museum. 0:05:46.640 --> 0:05:48.880 So those are I think equally as important as just 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:52.400 like having an artifact and preserving it from being destroyed 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:54.400 by the elements. Oh yeah, Like I think of the 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:57.320 like the really great museums I've been to, and I'm 0:05:57.360 --> 0:05:59.039 and I've been fortunate enough to get to go to 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:00.960 you know, a number of more fortunate enough to live 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:04.120 in a city that have some very nice museums as well. Um. 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:06.440 But but there's a you know, there's a journey you 0:06:06.480 --> 0:06:10.200 go on. There's there's a story that you involve yourself 0:06:10.240 --> 0:06:12.159 in when you're when you when you're in a really 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:15.080 good museum or a really good exhibit. Uh. And I 0:06:15.120 --> 0:06:16.680 think you know, part of that too is like it 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:20.760 appeals to spatial learning. UM. For instance, free plug for 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:24.960 the Firm Bank Museum here in Atlanta. Uh, you know, 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:27.240 they have a section called the like the Georgia walk 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:31.039 Through Time and uh it's something that you know, kids 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:32.880 that grew up in the Atlanta area have been going 0:06:32.880 --> 0:06:34.920 to for a long time and they probably end up 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:36.960 taking it for granted. But you know, there's this it's 0:06:37.000 --> 0:06:39.800 like a spatial journey you do walk through time you 0:06:39.839 --> 0:06:41.960 get to uh, you know, go through these exhibits and 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:43.800 get kind of a you know, a walk through of 0:06:44.040 --> 0:06:47.919 geologic history and uh. And I think that's important likewise 0:06:47.960 --> 0:06:52.840 with with fossils and and reproductions or even u taxidermy 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:56.400 um animals. There is something about being in the physical 0:06:56.440 --> 0:07:00.960 presence of either this creature or representation of this creature 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:04.440 that that just gives you an understanding of it that 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:07.600 you don't necessarily get from a book or a description 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:10.200 or a film or even some sort of uh, you know, 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:13.280 a virtual reality simulation. Yeah, that's right. And so later 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:15.000 in the episode we are going to discuss some of 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:19.960 the potential drawbacks and other considerations to have about museum culture. 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:23.480 But there is certainly a thing that is great about 0:07:23.600 --> 0:07:28.640 museum culture, like the tendency to want to preserve history 0:07:28.920 --> 0:07:31.880 and explain it right and to and also can can 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:35.040 forge an emotional connection. Like I believe it was the 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:37.520 Field Museum. I believe we we we were there together 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:42.120 because we had a work thing up there, and uh, 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:45.960 they had an exhibit about where they had an artistic 0:07:46.040 --> 0:07:49.000 recreation of slave ship and you like walk through the 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:51.200 hold of it and it's, uh, you know, it's just 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:54.800 a really emotional experience. It just brings you know, I remember, 0:07:54.880 --> 0:07:57.040 you know, it brought tears to my eyes, you know, 0:07:57.080 --> 0:07:59.120 and it was like that's an example where you know, 0:07:59.200 --> 0:08:05.160 you have this positive emotional manipulation to a certain extent 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:07.040 by the by the museum, you know, to give you 0:08:07.120 --> 0:08:10.200 this emotional connection with the topic. And I think that's 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:12.480 easy to overlook when we think of museums because you 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:15.000 can think of them as as just like a stoic 0:08:15.040 --> 0:08:19.840 presentation of artifacts that are perhaps lacking in context, or 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:23.040 acquire a great deal of reading a fine print, but 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:25.560 they could also help you feel the pain and passion 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:28.040 of people who have been long dead, right um. The 0:08:28.080 --> 0:08:30.640 Civil Rights Museum here in Atlanta also does a tremendous 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:34.560 job through you know, all sorts of like multimedia of uh, 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:37.120 you know, being able to like there's one exhibit where 0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:39.000 you you sit at a lunch counter and you wear 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:43.400 headphones to give you the experience of of being a 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:48.240 protester during the civil rights movement in America. And you know, 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:50.400 it's little things like that often with with you know, 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:54.160 some technological bells and whistles which you've you've used wisely, 0:08:54.559 --> 0:08:57.800 you know, can just really enhance what the museum is 0:08:57.840 --> 0:09:00.760 able to do from you know, an education an old perspective. 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:03.120 That's exactly right, And that's that's a good point about 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:06.320 how you know, museums today are much more than just uh, 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:09.840 the storage and display of physical artifacts. I mean that's 0:09:09.880 --> 0:09:12.480 the sort of classic museum tradition is like you have 0:09:12.600 --> 0:09:15.280 an object of some kind of significance. It's a work 0:09:15.280 --> 0:09:18.160 of art or an artifact found through archaeology or something 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:20.880 or a you know, it's natural history. Maybe it's a 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:24.040 mineral or a bone or something like that, um, and 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:27.040 and that's on display. But yeah, museums are bigger than that. Now. 0:09:27.080 --> 0:09:29.160 They're there in many ways a sort of just like 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:32.280 place you can go to engage with some form or 0:09:32.320 --> 0:09:34.920 other of history, right and and or so, or even 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:37.120 celebrate it, you know, such as you know, when I 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:39.200 think of some of our better, you know, science and 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:43.640 technology museums, it's like a a space where where science 0:09:43.720 --> 0:09:47.840 is celebrated, and there will be various uh activities going 0:09:47.840 --> 0:09:50.560 on to aid in that celebration, from say a science 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:54.280 themed playroom for very small children, to say a lecture 0:09:54.320 --> 0:09:58.240 series for uh, for for older individuals who you know 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:01.120 who needs something more, you know, so stances. So I 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:04.720 guess the question is how did humans start doing this? 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:08.679 Like when did the museum tradition begin? When when did 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:11.600 we first get the idea that you would uh that 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:14.360 you would put objects on display or have some kind 0:10:14.400 --> 0:10:16.840 of a place where you could you could go to 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:20.520 interact with educational materials like this, right. And I think 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:23.320 an important thing that we're we're kind of skipping over 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:26.319 and all this is that, um is that a museum 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:29.880 ideally and um and generally the better examples that we 0:10:30.000 --> 0:10:33.319 tend to focus on are going to be open for everyone. 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:35.680 So it's it's not just a matter of oh, well, 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:39.760 this university has a storeroom of artifacts, or this, uh, 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:44.079 this institution or this family has some wonderful pieces set aside. Uh. 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:45.880 You you'd love it if you could see it. Now, 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:48.880 A museum is ideally a place that is open to 0:10:49.040 --> 0:10:52.560 the people and the and and and everyone is allowed 0:10:52.600 --> 0:10:56.360 to venture in and engage with the materials there. Right. So, 0:10:56.480 --> 0:11:01.520 just the king's treasure room of like artifacts collected from 0:11:01.559 --> 0:11:04.040 the you know, from the cities he has conquered, is 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:07.640 not necessarily a museum because that's just his treasure room. Right. 0:11:07.679 --> 0:11:10.240 And you're probably not invited, And it's probably better if 0:11:10.280 --> 0:11:15.640 you're not invited, because it sounds like like a dangerous 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:18.520 place to venture into. Uh. You know, when I started 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:21.040 thinking just sort of you know, casually at first, you 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:23.120 know about the history museums. I started thinking, okay, well 0:11:23.160 --> 0:11:24.640 what are you know? What are some of the museums 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:27.120 that I've been to and how old are they? And 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:30.320 if if everyone else does his exercise as well, I 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:32.440 think you'll know that, you know, most of the museums 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:36.280 that come to mind our products of fairly recent history. UM. 0:11:36.320 --> 0:11:38.880 And obviously this holds true for the various American museums 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:41.480 I've visited, and even the British Natural History Museum is 0:11:41.520 --> 0:11:44.040 a product of colonial expansion and wasn't found into the 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:49.520 nineteenth century, um, spun off from a private collection and uh, 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:51.680 and we still see that that kind of movement going 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:53.920 on to this day. You know, we'll have large private 0:11:53.960 --> 0:11:57.760 collections that are either um continued that you're donated to 0:11:57.800 --> 0:12:01.000 a museum or spun off into a useum of some sort. 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:04.200 But the oldest museum in the UK, for instance, the 0:12:04.280 --> 0:12:06.880 Royal Armories in the Tower of London, only goes back 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:10.880 to fifteen two, with public access emerging in sixteen sixty. 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:13.120 Now generally at this point in the podcast, you know, 0:12:13.160 --> 0:12:15.680 we talked about what came before the invention, what was 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:18.480 the world leading up to that? And I think probably 0:12:18.600 --> 0:12:21.520 the best exercise here is to is to and not 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:24.079 to try and think of like a world without museums, 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:26.719 but think of the various things in history that are 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:30.400 sort of like a museum but not quite. Okay, So 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:33.480 first of all, we already mentioned like the King's treasure room. Right. 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:36.839 You know, you have conquered many cities and many great lands, 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:40.040 and maybe you you took artifacts that were sacred to them, 0:12:40.080 --> 0:12:41.800 and then you brought it back to your treasure room 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:44.520 and you kept it locked up for yourself. Right, Yeah, 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:47.559 it's it's it's it's certainly kind of like a museum, 0:12:47.600 --> 0:12:49.920 but not a museum. And we should note I mean 0:12:49.960 --> 0:12:52.520 that many museums. I mean one of the sort of 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:54.880 like counterpoints to the good things about a museum is 0:12:54.880 --> 0:12:58.000 that lots of great museums around the world today do 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:01.680 represent a kind of colonial under Yeah. I mean there 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:04.400 there are cases whereas there are objects, you know, in 0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:08.360 British museums that are of great historical significance, but that 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:11.520 you know, we're taken from other peoples around the world 0:13:11.640 --> 0:13:15.040 by colonial invaders from Great Britain exactly. So yeah, the 0:13:15.320 --> 0:13:19.559 King's Horde of Treasures is uh, it's it's not a museum, 0:13:19.600 --> 0:13:20.960 but at the same time, it does have a lot 0:13:21.000 --> 0:13:22.360 in common and I think that's going to be the 0:13:22.360 --> 0:13:25.000 case with all these not quite museum examples we're gonna 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:27.319 touch on. You know, it's also worth pointing out that, 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:30.960 you know, it's been long fashionable in human culture to 0:13:31.040 --> 0:13:35.120 steal treasures and art from a defeated adversary. Um on 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:36.680 stuff to blow your mind. We had a couple of 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:38.640 episodes about the Ark of the Covenant, and of course 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:41.440 the stories of the Ark of the Covenant involved it's uh, 0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:44.640 it's captured by the Philistines and later it's captured and 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:48.440 possible destruction by the Babylonians, and the Philistines were said 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:50.920 to have displayed the captured arc in their own Temple 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:53.800 of Dagon. Uh though of course, uh, you know this, 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:56.080 we don't know to what extent this you know, there's 0:13:56.120 --> 0:13:58.640 reality behind this, or if it's just a myth, etcetera. 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:01.800 But still it drives home that like this is this 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:05.280 is the sort of thing people did. Uh. They were 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:07.679 to crush or defeat an enemy, sacked their cities where 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:11.000 they would take their their treasured items back with them. 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:14.440 Right now, another case from from history that that kind 0:14:14.440 --> 0:14:15.960 of lines up with with a lot of this are 0:14:16.000 --> 0:14:19.840 the Roman triumphs, in which the treasures, art, wealth, and 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:23.600 armies of defeated enemies were marched through the city as 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:26.960 a spectacle. Uh and you know, along with captives, some 0:14:27.040 --> 0:14:29.400 to be executed or displayed. Further so sort of a 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:32.320 you know, an even more intense example of sort of 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:37.240 the more brutal aspects of museum like enterprises. Seem to recall, 0:14:37.320 --> 0:14:41.000 there's a scene of this Entitus Andronicus, I think, where 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:43.440 there's like a yeah, there's like a parade of the enemies. 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:47.440 Yeah they defeated some Germanic tribe or something, right, and 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:50.440 yeah they're they're the famous accounts of that, you know, 0:14:50.440 --> 0:14:54.000 and it's kind of like this awful Roman circus of 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:57.640 of you know, it's read rather uncomfortable to contemplate um, 0:14:57.760 --> 0:14:59.680 and so we we don't want that to be our 0:14:59.760 --> 0:15:02.280 music ms. But then again, like the shadow of that 0:15:03.040 --> 0:15:07.520 is cast over even our modern museums, and of course 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:09.200 in the even in just in the last century, we've 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:12.760 we've seen museums raided, looted, or destroyed due to military action. 0:15:13.240 --> 0:15:15.840 So you know, it's sad like continues to be the 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:18.840 case that when when groups of people go to war 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:24.160 with each other, um treasures, artifacts, items of historical or 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:31.000 cultural importance are often targeted. Now the like rooms full 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:33.640 of artifacts are not only created when, say, you know, 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:37.880 a conquering power or colonial power or something goes and 0:15:37.920 --> 0:15:41.000 takes from one culture and brings back home. People also 0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:44.480 create rooms full of artifacts from their own culture. I 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:47.920 mean a common way you find this is in tombs 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:50.520 in the ancient world exactly, yeah, I mean unstuffable in 0:15:50.520 --> 0:15:53.440 your mind. Especially we've discussed the tombs of ancient Egypt, 0:15:53.520 --> 0:15:56.680 the tombs of ancient China, uh, and these are you know, 0:15:56.760 --> 0:15:58.840 these are examples where generally it has to do with 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:02.080 some contemplation of the afterlife, or the at least the 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:05.000 idea that if if there is not a world for 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:08.560 the ruler to pass into and presumably take their things, 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:12.880 then there is still some continuation of identity in the 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:16.680 body that is preserved, and therefore the the items, the wealth, 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:19.360 all the material possessions or some form of them need 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:22.200 to be preserved there as well. So it's kind of 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:24.120 like a museum, but for the most part you are 0:16:24.120 --> 0:16:28.320 not invited to enter into Generally, it's it's looked down upon. 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:31.880 It's not designed to serve an educational purpose, and it 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:34.560 doesn't have interpretive materials. These are these are just I'm 0:16:34.600 --> 0:16:37.040 taking all my lute to the next world, right, and 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:39.880 I might put a crossbow trap in there just in 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:42.920 case you try and enter. Now another we we touched 0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:46.280 a little bit on this already bringing up Dagon, but 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:49.440 uh temple is another example of something that's kind of 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:53.000 like a museum, a place where valuable and important artifacts 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:56.720 may well be displayed for lots of people, if not everybody, 0:16:56.760 --> 0:16:59.480 then at least for a key demographic to view and admire. 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:03.320 And many cases the works are instructional in nature, you know, 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:05.480 a means of seeing the form of a god or 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:11.520 goddesses or visually contemplating complex theological concepts like one sees 0:17:11.520 --> 0:17:15.600 so particularly in Tibetan art. I mean, I think about 0:17:16.000 --> 0:17:21.280 the relics and uh, the ways that many Catholic basilicas 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:25.040 will say, preserve the remains of a sainted person. Yeah yeah, 0:17:25.040 --> 0:17:26.200 and then yeah, so we kind of have like a 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:29.440 dash of the tomb there as well. Right, But there's 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:32.200 something kind of museum e about that. Here's an object 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:34.520 from the past, it's on display for people to come 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:38.400 look at. Yeah. Yeah, and then there's also the shrine, 0:17:38.520 --> 0:17:40.960 which you know, can be something like a tomb and 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:43.600 something like a temple. But of course there are secular 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:46.080 versions of this as well throughout the world. I mean, 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:48.960 you go to Washington, d C. And you have all 0:17:49.000 --> 0:17:53.160 the you go to these monuments, these essentially shrines, and these, 0:17:53.359 --> 0:17:56.399 you know, often are about celebrating something that is tied 0:17:56.480 --> 0:18:00.760 to cultural or national heritage. Large scale statues as well 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:04.120 public statues are generally a good example of this as well. 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:07.199 Right now, speaking of shrine, this actually brings us to 0:18:08.000 --> 0:18:13.439 the word museum itself. So museum derives from the Latin 0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:17.639 what is it tom in, which means precisely this a 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:21.000 shrine to the muses um the muses of course with 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:25.600 the Greek goddesses of creativity and inspiration. Yeah, so, so 0:18:25.640 --> 0:18:28.119 we've got a shrine to the muses as the museon 0:18:28.720 --> 0:18:31.919 and then that becomes the idea of the museum. I 0:18:31.920 --> 0:18:34.840 guess that that word is coined probably much later, to 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:37.719 refer to what we think of this museums. Right. For instance, 0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:39.440 if we go back to the third century b C. 0:18:39.800 --> 0:18:43.560 We have the Museum of Alexandria to consider, which included 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:47.720 the famed Library of Alexandria, and it was founded by Ptolemy, 0:18:48.040 --> 0:18:51.720 the first Soter and noted for being who is noted 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:55.560 for being the traveling companion and chronicler of Alexander the Great. However, 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:58.120 the museum in this case was was not a display 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:00.639 of collected art, but a center of learned ing that 0:19:00.760 --> 0:19:03.760 ultimately has more in common with a university. Uh, you 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:06.199 know that we might think of today. Um, and uh, 0:19:06.280 --> 0:19:12.040 this was seemingly destroyed in the late third century. See um. 0:19:12.080 --> 0:19:15.280 But yeah, more more like a university, a place of learning, 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:20.400 a place where learned individuals would gather and celebrate knowledge. 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:22.520 So you've got a lot of stuff kind of like 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:25.760 this in the ancient world, but nothing that is quite 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:29.399 like we think of a modern museum, right. Yeah, I 0:19:29.440 --> 0:19:32.320 mean you can you can make a case that specific 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:36.119 museums or museums in general reflect these general attitudes to 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:38.880 this day. But yeah, none of these. You can't look 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:40.240 at any of these and go like, oh, that was 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:42.080 a museum, and it's like no, one, No, it was 0:19:42.119 --> 0:19:44.159 a treasure hoard. It was really more of a temple. 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:47.679 So indeed, museums are would seem to be more of 0:19:47.680 --> 0:19:51.480 a modern venture, right, largely rooted in the private wonder 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:56.359 rooms or cabinets of curiosities, uh than individuals and families had. 0:19:56.520 --> 0:19:58.840 And then the more modern museums tend to emerge out 0:19:58.840 --> 0:20:01.040 of these traditions. In fact, you know, if you look 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:04.040 around for some of the example, the oldest examples of 0:20:04.119 --> 0:20:07.520 things that are museums, uh, you know, a few that 0:20:07.560 --> 0:20:10.800 often pop Two that often pop up are the Capital 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:14.240 Line museums, the oldest public collections, the oldest public collection 0:20:14.240 --> 0:20:16.640 of art in the world. This is in Rome dates 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:20.760 back to fourteen seventy one and Pope six to the 0:20:20.760 --> 0:20:23.639 fourth donation of art to the people of Rome. You 0:20:23.640 --> 0:20:26.719 have the Vatican Museums have their origin as a public 0:20:26.880 --> 0:20:31.360 in public display in fifteen o six under Pope Julius 0:20:31.400 --> 0:20:35.679 the Second. But uh, and we might be tempted to 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:37.640 stop there, right and say, oh, well, okay, well there 0:20:37.640 --> 0:20:39.679 you go. This is these are some of the earliest examples. 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:43.679 But uh, there is a much older example we're going 0:20:43.720 --> 0:20:47.600 to get to in this episode that certainly predates anything 0:20:47.640 --> 0:20:51.240 that happened with the Catholic Church. Yeah, and this one, also, 0:20:51.280 --> 0:20:53.960 I guess is a matter of interpretation, because what you 0:20:54.040 --> 0:20:56.200 define as a museum is going to be a matter 0:20:56.240 --> 0:20:59.000 of interpretation. But this is going to be, uh, the 0:20:59.000 --> 0:21:03.280 earliest known music. I'm according to the great British archaeologist 0:21:03.400 --> 0:21:06.760 Charles Leonard Woolley. So we don't know for sure when 0:21:06.800 --> 0:21:09.159 the first museum was created, but I think there's a 0:21:09.160 --> 0:21:12.480 really reasonable chance that the earliest museum we know about 0:21:13.000 --> 0:21:16.320 was actually the first one in history. So let's take 0:21:16.320 --> 0:21:19.840 a journey to ancient Mesopotamia. Oh yes, all right, So 0:21:19.880 --> 0:21:24.040 we're going to go to the city of or. Or 0:21:24.160 --> 0:21:27.680 was once one of the great power centers of ancient Mesopotamia. 0:21:28.040 --> 0:21:31.120 And if you see photos of the sand covered ruins 0:21:31.200 --> 0:21:34.760 of the city and it's partially restored great ziggurat today, 0:21:35.320 --> 0:21:37.760 it might be hard to imagine that this was once 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:41.879 like a really thriving, lush, fertile settlement in the ancient world. 0:21:42.480 --> 0:21:45.840