Antakya is located in Hatay province, which until 1938 was part of Syria, and the area still feels more like Syria than Turkiye. Not that I know what Syria is like, but the area definitely has more of a middle eastern feel to it than what we have experienced elsewhere in Turkiye.
And in fact, we are now only 20 kms (12 miles) from the Syria border.
That in itself is amazing to me. I am a little bit in awe of the fact that we have driven our motorhome pretty much to the Syrian border!
Where we are right now.
Not that exciting of a drive, but here are a few photos...
When we arrived in Antakya, we headed straight for the Archeological Museum. Yes, we are kind of getting "museumed out" and this will be the last one for a while. But there were a few pieces we wanted to see here, as well as the fact that this museum has one of the best collections of Roman Mosaic flooring. Antakya is located close to the Roman resort of Daphne, where the wealthy Romans built luxurious villas, and excavations have found many intricate floor mosaics.
Also, some of the first written tablets were discovered in this area...
Tablets with writing on them.
These tablets date to the period between 1700 to 1400 BC.
Hard to imagine right?
Apparently they translate into mostly legal and administrative documents. Also interesting is that 99% of the population was illiterate and couldn't read them anyhow!
Between 1935 and 1938, the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago conducted large scale excavations at an Iron Age site about 25 kms south of the modern city. Here are some of the major pieces they found...
This lion statue is from 900 BC.
There is some writing on the back of this statue that says it depicts King Suppiluliuma who ruled the area in the early part of the 9th century BC.
Wow.
We skipped by most of the broken pottery and coin displays. They all start to look the same after a while. We headed right to the mosaics, which was the reason we came to this museum.
Harvesting grapes.
Dating from the 5th to 6th century, this one was found on the floor of what used to be a church. Even back then, grapes and wine production were important!
Hard to believe they are made with tiny pieces of colored stone.
Amazing.
Some are very weird.
A photo of a photo showing the original site of this mosaic.
And some are really out there.
Perhaps the ancient version of modern art?
Some of them are really big, and are displayed as a wall for better viewing.
A depiction of what one of the bath houses would have been like.
There are many more of these mosaics than what I have shown you here.
The last piece we saw was truly spectacular...the 3rd century Antakya Sarcophagus.
It was found in 1993 during a construction excavation. It is a spectacularly carved marble tomb, and it was virtually undamaged. Can you imaging the job of moving this 10 ton piece of marble without doing any damage during the move?
Wow.
Carved from a single piece of rock.
It contained the skeletons of one man and two women. The contents (bones and all) are also on display.
The other side.
Fantastic.
We had been parked on the street by the museum, but it didn't make for a good overnight spot. We found a dead end street beside the Museum Hotel a couple of blocks away. The hotel parking is right beside and there is a 24 hour guard so we felt pretty comfortable parking there.
Max, parked behind the Museum Hotel in Antakya.
Lots to see in this area, so we are going off exploring. Then to a campground in the hills overlooking Antakya where we can dump our tanks and fill with water. With any luck, they will have a washing machine too!
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And in Canada...
The mosaics are fascinating!
ReplyDeleteWere you able to see the 9000 sq ft floor mosaic in the hotel museum? I would love to see it someday.
Check tomorrow's blog post. :-)
DeleteKing Suppiluliuma looks very surprised. I guess I would, too, if someone was writing on my backside.
ReplyDeleteLol, kust think of all the people walking around with tattoos on their back, and that is live skin!
DeleteWow! Those are amazing!
ReplyDeleteThey really were amazing. We can't figure out how long it must have taken to have created these pieces of art!
DeleteBeautiful mosaic pieces and amazing such artistic skills existed back then. I'd like to see a close up photo of the pieces of stones that make up the mosaic. I'm wondering if the stones were flat pieces. My dad use to lay out rough pieces of stone into a design and then grind it flat. Folks digging up graves for display always surprises me. I opted to have by body recycled....cremated and used as fertilizer for a plant or tree(s).
ReplyDeleteThe mosaics were beautiful! There was a lot of artistic skills back then, just think of all the gorgeous statues that were carved and the frescoes painted on walls and ceilings of houses, churches and mosques.
DeleteThe majority of the mosaics were made from pieces of flat, coloured stone that had been cut into little pieces. There were one or two that were made from river stone that was placed sideways (skinniy side pointing up).
Most of the sarcophagi were already empty when they were found but there were a few that still had the bones in them, like this one that were put out for display. We sort of agree with you that they shouldn't be put on display, they should be left in peace. We also want to be cremated.
The mosaics are fabulous to see. It would take many many crafty craftsmen to get it all done
ReplyDeleteThey were amazing to see. We also wondered how long it took to create these pieces of art. Not only to put all those pieces down but just to cut all those little pieces of stone, it would have taken many, many hours (days/weeks?) and manpower to do all that. It really is mind boggling!
DeleteAmazed!
ReplyDeleteIt is so cool to see these mosaics, and that some of them in such good condition even after all these centuries!
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