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Part two: The Mosaics of Antiochia

The Museum of Antiochia was initially built during the French Administration in the 1930s. It was enlarged in the 1970s. It contains interesting statues and jewelry of the Hittite, Assyrian and Roman periods, but it is famous for its large Roman mosaics. The mosaics span from the IInd to the Vth centuries AD and they were mainly found in the villas built near Daphne. The University of Princeton had a major role in the research, restoration and classification of the mosaics.
The pictures shown in this page were taken with an ordinary camera and without using flash, thus they show only details of the mosaics.

The picture here below shows Summer and it is a detail of a large mosaic of the IInd century found near Daphne. The mosaic is called The Four Seasons and it decorated the ground of a large room.

Summer

Summer is shown as a naked winged boy with a short tunic on his shoulders. His head is crowned with a wreath made of ears of wheat. He carries a basket with other ears of wheat and holds a small sickle in his other hand. Proportion of the body, movement of the tunic, light effects, attention to details all show the maturity of the artist who designed this mosaic and of the patrons who commissioned it.

Initially mosaics were mainly used to obtain optical effects through the repetition of a geometric pattern. Later on the geometric patterns became a frame for small mosaics showing gods or animals. The pictures here below shows how at a later stage (IIIrd century) the geometric patterns were replaced by a more sophisticated decoration.

Detail from Narcissus and Echo

The picture above shows a detail of Narcissus and Echo a large mosaic of the IIIrd century found in Daphne. At each corner of the mosaic there is a head of a man trying to look upwards to the centre of the mosaic.

Decoration of Orpheus

The picture above shows a detail of Orpheus appeasing the wild animals, a mosaic of the IIIrd century found in Tarsus, the town near Adana where St Paul was born. In this case the central scene is framed by an elaborated set of wreaths.

With the move to the Christian religion in the IVth century, the portrayal of human beings became more symbolic and refrained from showing naked bodies. The so-called Mosaic of Yakto of the Vth century (found near Daphne) shows six mythological hunters, including Adonis and Narcissus, fully dressed. But there was still some resistance to the change and in a mosaic of the same period and location dedicated to Thalassa, goddess of the sea, the fishermen are young and naked (see picture below).

The Naked Fishermen

The most striking mosaic of the Museum of Antiochia is a large mosaic of the IInd century found in Daphne showing Oceanus and Thetis with the personification of the calendar (months and seasons). In particular Oceanus (see picture here below) shows the talent and technical skill of the unknown artist who designed it.

Oceanus



Antiochia, in addition to a large Jewish and later on Christian community had also a large community of followers of Mytra, a monotheist religion influenced by the Persian Zoroastrian cult. Mytra was usually portrayed while killing the primordial bull, from which all animals were thought to descend. The cult of Mytra was especially spread among Roman legionaries and thus reached all parts of the Roman Empire. A sarcophagus in the courtyard of the Museum of Antiochia shows fine reliefs with scenes related to this religion.

Sarcophagus


Move back to part one: En route to Antiochia.