The Stunning Ancient Greek Mosaics Of Zeugma

The Stunning Ancient Greek Mosaics of Zeugma

The ancient Greek mosaics of Zeugma in Turkey are true archaeological treasures that can still be admired at the Zeugma Mosaic Museum in Gaziantep, Turkey.

The 30,000-square-meter (320,000 square foot) museum, which opened its doors in September of 2011 is the largest mosaic museum in the world, containing 1,700 square meters (18,000 square feet) of ancient works of art.

The museum focuses on the mosaics found in Zeugma, which was originally founded as Seleucia by Seleucus I Nicator, a general in Alexander the Great’s Army, in 305 BC.

After Alexander’s death, his generals divided his empire among themselves. Although Seleucus moved his main capital to Antioch, Seleucia became an important center of trade, Hellenistic culture, and regional government under the Seleucids.

The city was populated by Greeks, Syrians, and Jews. It was an affluent city with a population of eighty thousand and in the 2nd and 3rd century BC was of sufficient stature to be compared to another great center of Hellenism, Alexandria, in Egypt.

The Roman Empire’s forces conquered the city in 64 BC, renaming it Zeugma (meaning “bridge” or “crossing” in ancient Greek).

The Romans held Zeugma until 253 AD, when the Persian Sassanids conquered the city, putting a violent end to its most significant years.

The ancient Greek mosaics of Zeugma

The treasures of Zeugma, including its vaunted mosaics, remained relatively unknown until the year 2000. Zeugma is now eighty percent underwater after it was flooded with the waters of a nearby artificial lake.

Archaeologists were alarmed at the flooding of the area and immediately began excavations to save the ancient treasures.

Most of the Greek mosaics of Zeugma, which were recovered in excellent condition, belong to the 2nd century BC preceding the Romans.

However, some of the mosaics appear to belong to the Roman era, as they depict Greek and Roman deities together.

In addition, some of the mosaics deviate from purely Hellenistic style and imagery, with archaeologists placing them in the Roman era of the city’s history.

The archaeological site of Zeugma

The archaeological site of Zeugma is a UNESCO World Heritage Center, located ten kilometers (six miles) away from Nizip within the boundaries of Gaziantep.

The preserved parts of the ancient city include the Hellenistic Agora, the Roman Agora, two sanctuaries, the stadium, the theater, two bathhouses, and the Roman legion military base.

Remains of the administrative structures of the Roman legion, the majority of the residential quarters, Hellenistic and Roman city walls, and the East, South and West necropolis can also be found there.

The archaeological site of Zeugma is of immense historical significance in the understanding of the ancient integration of Hellenistic and Semitic cultural spheres and the birth of syncretistic hybrid cultures in the region.

By Philip Chrysopoulos.

One of the last surviving gay men who lived to tell the tale…Albrecht Becker ( 1906-2002) was a German production designer, photographer, and actor who was imprisoned by the Nazi regime for the charge of homosexuality. At age eighteen, Albrecht began a relationship with the older Joseph Friedrich Abert, in a relationship lasted ten years. In the 1930’s a fellow townspeeso. complained to the local police department that his mail was being opened. The complaint was investigated by the Gestapo, who took the liberty to search his home and discovered a number of photographs of young men in his safe. One of these photographs was of Albrecht Becker. Becker was brought in for questioning in 1935 on suspicion of violating Paragraph 175. "Everybody knows I'm a homosexual." declared Albrecht. Both he and his neighbor, Dr Leopold Obermayer, were put on trial. Albrecht was was sentenced to three years in prison at Nürnberg. Obermayer was also convicted of violating Paragraph 175, but as a Jew was sent to Dachau concentration camp. He was tortured there and sent to Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp, where he died. As the tide of the war turned against the Nazi’s and there was a need to replace dead soldiers, Albrecht was released in order to serve in the Wehrmacht. He served on the Russian front until 1944 as many gay men were used as cannon fodder. After the war Albrecht Becker would pick up the pieces of his life and keep his secrets until 2 years before his death at 95, spoke of his experiences during the war in the 2000 documentary Paragraph 175.

Ancient Origins España y Latinoamérica

El gato leopardo asiático: primo lejano de nuestros gatos domesticado en China hace 5.000 años

Agricultores chinos podrían haber domesticado gatos leopardo asiáticos en la época neolítica, hace más de 5.000 años, según un reciente estu

Agricultores chinos podrían haber domesticado gatos leopardo asiáticos en la época neolítica, hace más de 5.000 años, según un reciente estudio. Es una especie diferente al único tipo de gato doméstico que existe en nuestros días, el Felis catus, que tanta gente tiene en sus casas como mascotas.

Arts & architecture, Sander Patelski

Ho visto spesso sui social campagne pubblicitarie, soprattutto per quanto riguarda la sensibilizzazione sui comportamenti sessuali, dall'uso del preservativo alla restrizione dei contenuti pornografici (se dipendesse da me nessun minorenne in nessun caso avrebbe accesso a questi contenuti) notando una forma di censura "nuova" molto sottile e forse per questo molto pericolosa. Sto parlando della sostituzione della "s" di sesso e simili, con un numero o altro simbolo dalla forma molto simile, come in "S3sso" o persino "S3ss0". Premetto la mia ignoranza in tema di AI perchè non la uso nel mio lavoro. Non so minimamente come funziona l'algoritmo di instagram e di Facebook. Ma torniamo alla censura. Uno scarabocchio del genere come quello di cui sopra secondo me si commenta da solo. Ma evidentemente io vivo sulla luna, e spesso mi trovo a fare domande su cose cui nessuno mai riflette o che ad altri sembrano ovvie, scontate e banali ma che invece non lo sono. Ma, se non vuoi dire sesso, perchè lo scrivi? E se lo scrivi, perchè lo scrivi male? Tutti sappiamo che le applicazioni di AI, per quanto sofisticate, sono programmate e scritte in linguaggio informatico da persone, programmatori, copywriters, social media manager in team spesso giovani. Non sempre i giovani hanno la mente aperta e la maturità per capire che scrivere S3sso è una forma di censura e quindi progettare AI che non censurino i contenuti espliciti.

Oppure come dissi in un altro post su facebook piuttosto si crei una rete internet diversa, solo per adulti davvero inaccessibile ai minori o una rete internet separata solo per minori con accesso solo su autorizzazione degli adulti ai figli, minori, alunni, ecc. che è la stessa cosa.

In alternativa si potrebbero eliminare ma davvero, i contenuti espliciti dal web. Sono soluzioni complesse perchè i problemi che andrebbero a cercare di arginare, dalla pedopornografia, alla dipendenza dal web, sono complessi.

In questo contesto l'intelligenza artificiale non può essere la panacea per ogni male, ma utilizzata male si sta rilevando solo l'ennesimo passo indietro in direzione di un analfabetismo funzionale che, pare, non avere alcun limite

Non ha tutti i torti

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