An-TI-oCH: The syllables of the name are angular, clear-cut and imperial. They maintain their shape against the flow of casual language, putting up a determined resistance to our war on enunciation. It shouldn't surprise us, then, that the city bearing this name should resurface through the obliterating dust of centuries; "The Lost City of Antioch" exhibit, currently housed in the Baltimore Museum of Art, organizes the fruit of countless excavations to recreate one of the most important cities of the Roman Empire.
The exhibition is small but well-planned. The first room is devoted to the Persian heritage of the city, which flavored its Roman cosmopolitanism to produce a unique urban culture. Items like a piece of a woolen tunic, dyed purple with a repeat design of birds, and a drinking vessel made of silver, carved in the shape of an antelope's head, give us clues to the knowledge and manufacturing techniques of cities which Rome absorbed and made its own. In the first room, there is also a floor mosaic featuring a design of rams' heads, indicating the rich cultural hybrid that results from merging a native culture with imperial Roman culture. Floor mosaics, after all, were a Roman decoration; the ram was the sacred symbol of the Persian god of war.
In the same room are two exquisite pieces of jewelry. Although the placards list the materials and the approximate time they were made, I wanted to know more: whether the design had been influenced by Persian traditions of craftsmanship, or whether the genius was entirely Roman. One of the flaws of the exhibit is that it focuses more on architecture than on items of personal luxury. I wanted to see articles of fashion, accessories and more jewelry - personal symbols of taste; but I'm probably being unreasonable because such things hardly every survive intact through centuries. Gems, precious materials and specialized objects tend to be recycled by the next generation to make its own jewelry, its own items of luxury.
But I have another complaint with the exhibit; the second room, devoted to Antioch's public life, depicts it as replica of Rome's public life. The reliefs from theaters, stadiums, the descriptions of Antioch's Olympics and gladiator matches didn't interest me much. We're so familiar with Roman public life from movies such as Ben-Hur and Gladiator that it was almost clich; it didn't give me new impressions or new insights into the unique character of Antioch. Not to say that there wasn't anything of interest in the second room; there was a case displaying artifacts of magic and superstition that I found incredibly fascinating. Curse tablets and curse strips to put spells on neighbors, as well as censers for lighting incense to drive away evil spirits, revealed something about the ordinary people of Antioch.
The cornerstone of the exhibit is the room that recreates the patrician household of Antioch. The center of the room is dominated by magnificent floor mosaics that depict scenes from classical Greek myths. The tones of the mosaics are warm and rich, which fits the voluptuous nature of these scenes; we see scenes of dance and drink which probably parallel the kind of entertainment offered to guests. The use of Greek myth in these lavish floor decorations shows that the tastes and values of Antioch's aristocracy was the same as the taste and values of Rome's patricians; it also reemphasizes the impact of Grecian culture on Rome's creative imagination.
The room also has luxurious glass objects found in patrician homes. The only word for the glass is "exquisite." Things like a thin glass bowl with a scalloped rim, made of transparent yellow-green glass, a small bottle shaped like a cluster of grapes, made of manganese colored glass, a tall ewer with handle and coils made of robin's egg-blue glass, and another bowl made of pale-spring colored glass prove that Antioch represents an advanced material culture. Even more so than the mosaics, the glass pieces recreate for us the luxurious atmosphere in a patrician home.
The exhibit moves on to discuss the spread of Christianity in Antioch, as well as the process of excavation. The strongest part of the exhibit, however, is where it focuses on the city's culture and on the homes and lifestyles of its citizens. The finale is well-organized; the rooms open out into a lighted, airy courtyard, where the museum's permanent collection of mosaics is displayed on the walls. I wished that the courtyard had an exit, though, so that I didn't have to walk back through the exhibit to leave (it gave me the weird sensation that someone had pressed the rewind button on this experience). I also wished that there was a brochure I could take home as a memento. But on the whole, the exhibit is excellent. Anyone who doesn't go to visit is depriving him or herself of a wonderful experience.
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