Making Connections at the British Museum

 Making Connections at the British Museum

One of the things that Jenna my teacher wants me to work on is making connections between the books  I'm reading and my experiences. At the moment I'm reading Percy Jackson which has loads about ancient Greece. So last week when we went to the British Museum I asked if we could go to the Greek exhibit.  As we went around I kept an eye out for anything I could recognise from the book.  Here are some of the connections I was able to make...

I saw this ancient Greek sword that was just like the sword from the book that the main character Percy uses.  

These are gold drachma  - they use 

them in all the Percy Jackson books.  The real drachma's had an owl on them representing Athens - Athena's city and Athena, like the owl was very wise.

These are the Stymphalian birds who attack Camp Half-Blood where Percy stays in Summer.  This happened in Book Two at a chariot race.  They beat them by using Chairon's music because his music was loud and none of the campers like it.  In Greek myth one of Heracles 12 labours was to get rid of the Stymphalian birds.  He uses brass bells to scare them away.  (The birds on this Greek Pot look far more terrifying than the pidgeon-like ones in the Percy Jackson book.)

This is a statue of Apollo a very well known Greek God.  Apollo is responsible for looking after the young.  He drives a chariot which is the sun.  The character Apollo helps Percy in the third book by driving him in his bus. His bus can also transform into a car like the one in this picture.

At the museum there was this small statue of a chariot because the Greeks like to participate in chariot races for sport.  In Percy Jackson they also have chariot races.

At the museum we found this cool helmet.  In the book they wear these kind of helmets too.  (But they're not as old!)

When we
 went to the museum there was a beautiful Ancient Greek pendant in the shape of a Hippocamp- a kind of creature that is like a seahorse.  In Greek Mythology it was sometimes ridden by the Sea God Nereus.  In the Percy Jackson books, Percy rides these rainbow coloured creatures.

  

This is a bust of Athena the Greek Godess of wisdom and warfare.  Here she is wearing a helmet to show she is a warrior.  In Greek Mythology Athena helps Perseus defeat Medusa by giving him  shield which he uses to watch her reflection without looking at her and being turned to stone..  In the Percy Jackson books, one of Percy Jackson's friends is the daughter of Athena.  In the Percy Jackson books he defeats Medusa by looking at her in his phone.

                                    

This is Aphrodite she helps in the third book by telling them about a giant statue. She only helps them because Percy Jackson is trying to save his girlfriend and she thinks it is an epic love story.   In Greek Myths, Aprodite was the Goddess of Love.  

This is Zeus who is the king of the gods. As the god of the sky he has the power to throw lightening bolts in Greek myth.   In the first book Percy has to return a lightening bolt to Zeus.

On this pot you can see the story of Heracles battling the Nemean Lion.  He strangles it with his bare hands because his weapons won't pierce the skin.  He then makes a cloak from it's skin.  In the 3rd Percy Jackson book they fight the Nemean Lion and shoot it in the mouth as it's skin is so tough. Percy also makes a cloak from it's skin.

This is Dionysus who is the God of wine and is often associated with parties, theatre and revelling. Dionysus is often pictured with grape vines. In  Percy Jackson Dionysus is the camp director of Camp Half-Blood the safehaven for Demigods.  He grows grape vines.