Mosaics found in Zeugma: Beware!

Thalia, the Muse of Comedy, in a mosaic discovered in Zeugma. Image from  eu.Greekreporter.com.

A fabulous series of mosaics have been uncovered in recent excavations in the Greek city of Zeugma, including a large floor-mosaic of the nine Muses, the Greek goddesses of song and inspiration. Pictures, as well as a short article in English, can be found here. But reader beware! One of the pictures presented here (which has been reposted and retweeted endlessly) was part of an earlier campaign (early 2000s). More on this below, but first a bit about the Greco-Roman city of Zeugma.

Zeugma in SE Turkey, ancient Asia (Minor). Image from https://www.utexas.edu/courses/romanciv.

Zeugma, founded around 300 BC by Selecus Nicator I, one of Alexander the Great's generals, was a thriving ancient city that featured the only bridge ("zeugma" means "bridge") across the Euphrates in antiquity. In Roman times it became a major center for trade as well as the standing location of two Roman legions. It was sacked by a Sassanid incursion in the mid 3rd century AD, and it was essentially abandoned until the 20th century. Today, most of it has been flooded by the reservoir that was formed by the Birecik dam, which is located only some 500 meters downstream from the ancient city. A good (and short) article on the dam and its consequences can be found here. A longer article from Archaeology magazine outlines the history of the site and some of new excavations there.

This Greek city had a number of houses that featured lovely mosaics—some of the most beautiful in the world. Zeugma, in fact, became the darling of the archaeological world when the dammed waters began to rise about 4 inches a day in 2000 and started threatening the fabulously ornate mosaics. Emergency archaeological excavations and preservation were put into action to save the mosaics and transfer them to a safe location where they could be conserved. Those of you who are interested in the conservation of mosaics may wish to view this (25-minute) video about the conservation of the Zeugma mosaics carried out in 2000–2004. Really interesting stuff. The recent excavations have focused on the upper city that remains above the water line. These mosaics, unlike those found in the earlier emergency campaign, have been preserved in situ for visitors to see.

Now, back to the misinformation in the "new discoveries." The eu.greekreporter article (link again here) correctly reports the discovery of a beautiful mosaic of the Muses (picture above), but the picture of the second new find (of Oceanus and Tethys) is not accurate! The picture given (shown below) is a picture of the Ocean/Tethys mosaic that was saved during the emergency excavations. There was a mosaic of Oceanus and Tethys found in the recent excavations, but it is not the one shown in the article.

Mosaic said to be found in recent excavations at Zeugma. This is, however, the mosaic found earlier and now housed in the Gaziantep museum.

This is the new mosaic that has recently been unearthed in Zeugma and preserved in situ:

New mosaic of Oceanus and Tethys in Zeugma: view from above

An up-close view:

Tethys (center) and Ocean (right) in new mosaic.

Note that the two figures have switched sides, but some elements remain similar (like the dragon-like sea-creature that sits in between them, as well as other sea motifs). The similarities in subjects and motifs suggest either a workshop with multiple artisans, or a competitive market with multiple companies offering similar but distinctive mosaics. In any case, one must be quite aware that misinformation is the norm in an informational system is nearly a hermetically sealed loop of reused material. In any case, go here for a trustworthy source (source of second image above). For a pretty ludicrous article about the criticism that the mayor received for walking on the mosaics in high heels, click here.