Zeugma Mosaic Museum

In the Zeugma Mosaic Museum ( Turkish Zeugma Mozaik Müzesi ) in the Turkish provincial capital Gaziantep , archaeological finds, mainly mosaics, have been collected from the city of Zeugma , which was largely flooded by the reservoir during the construction of the Birecik Dam as part of the Southeast Anatolia Project . The museum is the world's largest collection of Roman mosaics.

The museum is located in Gaziantep city center on the E-90 thoroughfare, Sani Konukoğlu Bulvarı.

Emergence

In the course of the planning of the Southeast Anatolia Project, which began in 1980 and is intended to supply the south-east of Turkey with water and energy, the construction of the Birecik Dam was also decided, which began in 1996. After lengthy, often unsuccessful efforts from various sides to initiate measures to save the valuable antiquities of Zeugma, rescue excavations finally began in 1995 with the cooperation of the Archaeological Museum of Gaziantep and various international organizations. Numerous artifacts have been unearthed, including a large number of remarkable, well-preserved mosaics and wall paintings. They were initially collected in the Gaziantep Museum, which soon proved to be too small. In 2005, an extension was opened next to the old museum, but it was soon no longer able to cope with the abundance of material found. In 2008, the construction of a museum for the relics of Zeugma began, which was opened to visitors on May 27, 2011. The official inauguration by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Minister of Culture Ertuğrul Günay took place on September 9, 2011.

Statue of mars

exhibition

Sofraz stele with Antiochus and Apollo

The total area of the museum building is 30,000 m², the exhibition takes up about a third of that on three floors. At the time of the opening, the museum housed mosaics with a total area of 1450 m² as well as another 1000 m² that are still being restored. The museum has thus surpassed the largest mosaic museum in Tunis to date and has the world's largest mosaic collection. There are also 140 m² of frescoes , statues, four Roman fountains, columns, steles and sarcophagi as well as a bronze statue of the god of war Mars . The latter is 1.45 m high and placed on a six meter high column so that it can be seen from almost every point in the building. It was found in the house of Poseidon and has minor traces of fire. It is believed that it was hidden there to protect against the Sassanid attack in AD 252. Two dexiosis reliefs should be mentioned among the steles , which are placed near the entrance. They show the commagenic king Antiochus I shaking hands with Apollo / Mithras and Heracles . The mosaics and wall paintings are partially presented in the original context with columns, fountains and other architectural elements.

The exhibition also includes large interactive screens that provide information about the history and exploration of the town of Zeugma, as well as the excavations and rescue operations. A film is shown in an adjoining room, with various boards and tables with large touchscreens and motion-sensitive laser projections distributed over the three floors, with which children and adults can playfully learn more about the structure and characteristics of the mosaics, for example in the form of puzzles.

Mosaics

Some outstanding mosaics are described below as examples.

Picture of a girl

The most famous mosaic in the collection is the so-called "Gypsy". It is the emblem of the house and is depicted on posters and in the city of Gaziantep as an advertisement for the museum. The fragment shows a young girl whose hair is held under a cap. Part of the hair appears above the forehead, under the cap, long curls hang freely down the sides. The remains of a flower or a ribbon to the right may belong to a thyrsos that she or someone standing next to him is holding. It is interpreted as a reference to a suspected Dionysus scene, with the girl representing a maenad . Traces of grape leaves can be seen above the head, which confirms this interpretation. The mosaic is dated to the 2nd century AD. It is exhibited on the upper floor in a separate, darkened room.

Oceanus and Tethys

The mosaic shows the sea god Oceanos with his wife Tethys , surrounded by sea creatures and four figures of Eros riding dolphins . The god is shown with two crab claws as horns, an oar in one hand. Tethys has two wings on his forehead. The mosaic was found at the bottom of a bathing pool. The view from above is the reason why two of the depictions of Eros are upside down. Such images of the Ocean with sea creatures were popular motifs for mosaics or paintings in bathrooms.

Metiochus and Parthenope

The frame of the picture is formed by a row of tiered pyramids, inside a guilloche band and a wide white and a narrow black, straight band. Parthenope and Metiochos, which could be identified by means of labels, are shown. Metiochus and Parthenope are the main characters in an ancient novel. Parthenope was probably a daughter of the tyrant Polycrates of Samos , the mosaic describes the meeting of the two. According to the story, they have already met and fallen in love, but Parthenope is a priestess of Artemis and has sworn a virginity. You sit on the cushions of a sofa-like lounger, the legs of which are pierced by disc-like shapes. The bodies of the figures are slightly turned away from each other, while the heads are directed towards the other. She wears a strapless tunic that exposes her left shoulder and a fallen cloak on her knees . Arms and wrists are adorned with hoops, a diadem can be seen on the head and a pearl ring can be seen in the visible right ear. Metiochus wears a tunic with two vertical stripes, his cloak hanging over his shoulders is folded on his lap. The mosaic from the 3rd century was already badly destroyed and looted when it was found in 1993, some missing parts could be identified in the Menil Collection in Houston (Texas) and were returned to Gaziantep.

Eros and Psyche

The mosaic is framed by two rows of perspective-depicted cuboids inclined towards the center of the side. Between the two rows there is a wide strip filled with a double acanthus band . The two bands originate in the middle of the top and bottom of a bearded male face and meet in the middle of the right and left side in large acanthus leaves. The coils of the plant are filled with fruits, including grapes, apples, pears, plums, pomegranates, and figs, with small flowers and tendrils in between.

The figures of Eros and Psyche sit on an upholstered lounger with their feet on a wide footstool. Eros is barefoot, Psyche's feet are covered by her cloak. They also sit with their bodies slightly turned away from each other while their heads turn toward each other. Eros is depicted as a handsome young man with a naked torso, with a wreath of leaves on his head. Its wings are multi-colored shaded. His left arm is wrapped around his companion's shoulder, and in his right hand he is holding a bouquet of flowers on his lap. Psyche is dressed in a tunic with sleeves, her cloak is made of translucent fabric. She is adorned with a wreath of leaves and a veil on her head. In the background to the left of the scene is a shiny, metallic crater . The work was found in the house of Poseidon and dates from the 2nd to the middle of the 3rd century.

Triumph of Dionysus

The illustration from the 2nd century together with that of Pasiphae and Daidalos formed a T-shaped floor mosaic in the house of Poseidon . The outer border, which at the top also forms the boundary to the second mosaic, consists of a meander ribbon shown in perspective , showing alternating swastics and rectangles that contain a Solomon's knot (two interlaced ovals). The band is surrounded on both sides by a red and white wave pattern, a band with bay leaves acts as the inner frame.

The people who can be identified by their inscriptions are Dionysus , Nike and a bakche (maenad). Dionysus is standing on a chariot with eight-spoke wheels drawn by two panthers. Around his head wreathed one seems Nimbus . In his right hand he holds a thyrsus with a spearhead, which is decorated in three places with ribbons and leaves. He is dressed in the style typical of a Dionysian triumph , wearing a long tunic with gold ribbons around the waist, upper arm and wrist. A cloak hangs over the left shoulder and falls around the left arm and on the back. Next to him in the car is Nike, who holds the reins of the panthers. On the right is a dancing bakche with cymbals , wearing a long tunic and a scarf. The clothes emphasize their rotating dance movement.

Exhibition views

Other facilities

The left, western wing of the U-shaped complex is occupied by the exhibition space, while the central and eastern wings contain workshops, including restoration rooms that can be seen through glass walls, administration rooms, a café, a museum shop and a congress center. There are columns and a statue in the covered central courtyard.