Photo Gallery: Antioch Mosaics
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A richly illustrated guide to the world's sacred places,
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Mosaic of the comic poet Menander reclining with his mistress Glykera (center) and a personification of Comedy. Comedy holds an actor's mask and a staff typically held by the narrator on stage, while another mask rests upon the scrinium or case for keeping books.
The New Comedy of Menander was first staged in Athens in the late fourth century BCE and continued to be performed throughout the Roman period. Portraits of Menander and scenes from his plays are reproduced most notably in wall paintings at Ephesus and Pompeii and in floor mosaics from Lesbos. The people of Antioch probably saw Menander's comedies performed in their theaters.
This mosaic was part of the House of Menander (named for the mosaic) at Daphne, which dates from 250-75 AD. It was found in a part of the house that was dedicated to dining and entertainment. The convival scene of the reclined lovers may well reflect the function of the room. As comedies regularly ended in a revel, and as Plutarch commented that "New Comedy is so bound up with symposia that you could more easily regulate the drinking without wine than without Menander," the pavement may allude to the types of entertainments or discussions enjoyed in this room.
Marble and limestone, 53-1/8 x 88-3/4 in. Princeton Art Museum, 40.435.
Information from Antioch: The Lost Ancient City
, p. 156.
Related pages:
Antioch
Timeline of Antioch
Antioch Artifacts Photos
Turkey Photos