Tuesday, January 27, 2015

The Zeugma Mosiacs

ancient mosaics discovered in ancient greek city of zeugma (1) 
Several ancient floor mosiacs in remarkably good condition were recently discovered in the ruins of Zeugma, a Greek-Roman city on the banks of the Euphrates River in Turkey, near the Syrian border.  Zeugma was founded as a Greek colony around 300 BC by one of the successors to Alexander the Great.  The mosiacs date from one to two hundred years later.  By the first century BC the area was dominated by Rome and in the first century AD it formally became part of the Roman Empire, within which it remained until the mid-7th century.

The mosiac seen above shows the Nine Muses, a source of inspiration to poets and writers.  This is a close up of one muse:
ancient mosaics discovered in ancient greek city of zeugma (2)This video shows the mosiac being cleaned:

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