Part 3: Reading the text g6 Task 3: Read the following text.


A History of the World in 100 Objects


In 2010, the BBC broadcast a radio series called A History of the World in 100 Objects. It was made together with the British Museum, and its intention was to try and tell the history of the world through some of the objects in their extensive collection. Descriptions of four of the objects discussed in the programme are presented below.


5 The mummy of Hornedjitef 10


When important or rich people in ancient Egypt died, they would be mummified; that is, their body would be preserved. The reason for this is that they believed they were setting off on a journey from this world to the afterlife. This process would help them make this journey more easily. The mummy described is of a priest called Hornedjitef, who lived around 2,500 years ago. It comprises one coffin inside a second outer coffin. X-rays indicate that he was suffering from arthritis when he died, so he was probably quite old. Other objects found in the coffin include a painted wooden figure and The Book of the Dead, a book of spells.


A Hebrew astrolabe 15 20


An astrolabe was the smartphone of its day. It is a scientific instrument which has many different functions, for example working out the time of day using the sun or the stars, for mathematical calculations, or for creating astrological horoscopes. Although they were invented around the year 150 BCE in Greece, it was Muslim scholars who developed them further, specifically to work out the exact direction of Mecca from wherever they were in the world. The astrolabe in the British Museum has words in both Hebrew and Arabic. This suggests it was most likely made for a Jewish scholar living in Spain during the 13th


At this time, Muslim and Jewish scholars regularly worked together. Defaced suffragette penny


The suffragettes were a group of people, predominantly women, who demanded political reform in early 20th


25 30


-century Britain. The name for the group comes from the word ‘suffrage’, which means ‘the right to vote’. At the time, women, along with the poor and criminals, were not allowed to vote. They used a range of tactics in order to try and persuade the government to change the law, some of which involved violence. They also used non-violent methods, as demonstrated by the penny coin in the British Museum: suffragettes would print the words ‘Votes for Women’ on the coins. Since pennies were so commonly used in society, this was a quick and easy way of sending their message to a very wide audience.


Japanese bronze mirror 35


The Japanese bronze mirror in the British Museum was found in the ‘mirror-pool’ at the shrine on Mount Haguro. It seems that this religious site was a place where pilgrims would come and throw their mirrors into the pond as an offering to their God. The mirror has been dated to the 12th


century. The back is decorated by two dancing cranes, which are birds considered to be symbols of long life and marital fidelity. The other side is undecorated, and it was polished finely in order to create a reflective surface. There is some evidence which suggests that mirrors were closely associated with Japanese emperors, because of their ability to reflect light.


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