Antiquities Exhibits

This thinly-cast bust depicts a youth wearing a lion-skin over his head and a quiver strap across the chest. The figure has delicate features and fine hair that is drawn up in a braid with tendrils falling onto his forehead. The figure may depict a young Herakles, or an unidentifiable youth in the guise of the great hero. A third possibility is that this young man is Eros, who was often depicted with attributes associated with Herakles. Two small holes at the bottom edge may have been used to attach this bust to a piece of furniture.  While in wealthy households beds were used for sleeping in the bedrooms (lectus cubicularis), and couches for banqueting while reclining were used in the dining rooms (lectus tricliniaris), the less well off might use the same piece of furniture for both functions. The two types might be used interchangeably even in richer households, and it is not always easy to differentiate between sleeping and dining furniture. The most common type of Roman bed to...

The Zeugma Mosaic Museum  in the town of Gaziantep, Turkey, the biggest mosaic museum in the world, containing 1700m2 of mosaics opened to the public on 9 September 2011,  Named for its pontoon bridge of boats that crossed the Euphrates River at that location, Zeugma was founded as Seleucia by Seleucus I Nicator, one of the general successors of Alexander the Great, in the early 3rd century BCE.  By 64 BCE, the Romans controlled the city and Zeugma became a military base and thriving commercial center with a population of about 70,000 people. In 253 CE, it was destroyed by the Sassanids, but was later rebuilt.  However, continuing raids by the Persians and Arabs led to its abandonment in the 7th century CE. The mosaics, remained relatively unknown until 2000 when plans for new dams on the Euphrates meant that much of Zeugma would be flooded. Many of the mosaics remain covered and teams of researchers continue to work on the project to rescue them. In addition to the ...

Eros, the Greek god of love, was capable of overpowering the minds of all gods and mortals. According to an early myth, Gaia (goddess of the Earth) and Eros were the source of all creation. Literary references of the sixth and fifth centuries BCE. often portray Eros as a cruel, capricious being who causes burning desire. In Classical art he is usually represented as a beautiful winged youth. During the Hellenistic period (323–31 BCE) a new image of the god as a baby took hold. The popularity of that iconography is linked to the myth of Eros being the son of Aphrodite, born of her affair with Ares (god of war). The most innovative and influential representation of Eros during the Hellenistic and the Roman periods was of Eros sleeping.  Variations of the type are known from hundreds of sculptures, which, to judge from the number of extant replicas and adaptations, was one of the most popular ever produced in Roman Imperial times. It was also among the earliest of the ancient statues ...

  Eros, the Greek god of love, is shown as a beautiful youth with both male and female characteristics. The figure was originally part of a lamp holder and would have had an oil lamp on the tendril he holds in an outstretched hand. The sculpture shares in the expressive, dynamic qualities of later Greek Hellenistic art; it appears to be flying on the beautifully detailed wings. The lamp from which the figure came was probably made in the eastern Mediterranean for a wealthy house or villa in Italy. The bronze has been associated with a trove of Greek luxury goods recovered from an ancient shipwreck near the town of Mahdia on the coast of Tunisia. - Anne Bromberg, Dallas Museum of Art. A cult of Eros existed in pre-classical Greece, but it was much less important than that of Aphrodite. However, in late antiquity, Eros was worshiped by a fertility cult in Thespiae. In Athens, he shared a very popular cult with Aphrodite, and the fourth day of every month was sacred to him (also share...

Although we often see Eros, Roman Cupid, depicted as a chubby little winged child, he was also prominently portrayed in ancient literature as the adult husband of Psyche.  The longstanding folktale, codified in Apuleius' Latin novel, The Golden Ass, relates a quest for love and trust between Eros and Psyche. Aphrodite was jealous of the beauty of the mortal princess Psyche, as men were leaving her altars barren to worship a mere human woman instead, and so Aphrodite commanded her son Eros, the god of love, to cause Psyche to fall in love with the ugliest creature on earth. But instead, Eros falls in love with Psyche himself and spirits her away to his home. Their fragile peace is ruined by a visit from Psyche's jealous sisters, who cause Psyche to betray the trust of her husband. Wounded, Eros leaves his wife, and Psyche wanders the Earth, looking for her lost love. Eventually, she approaches Aphrodite and asks for her help. Aphrodite imposes a series of difficult tasks on Psy...