Mosaic Programmes in Domestic Contexts at Zeugma

Year 2017, Issue: 10, 183 - 212, 30.11.2017

Kutalmış Görkay

https://doi.org/10.26658/jmr.357063

Cited By: 4

Abstract

This article reassesses mosaic programmes in domestic contexts and in private spheres in the houses at Zeugma

and in some other Greco-Roman cities. The starting point of the argument in the article is a mosaic inscription

which was found in a Roman house in Zeugma. The mosaic pavement itself decorates the floor of a chamber

decorated with geometric patterns and the inscription in the middle. The inscription is an epithalamium, a wedding

song, written for a newly-wedded couple, probably residents of the house, whose names are also partly

preserved in the poem. The inscription suggests that the theme and iconography of the mosaics and frescoes

in public dining rooms and private rooms in the domestic context are associated with the stories of the gods,

goddesses or other well-known couples related to the concept of ideal marriage in mythology and in literature.

These marriage-related themes are accompanied by images of Dionysiac domesticity and Bacchic frenzy. This

article proposes that many of these mosaics, which are much more permanent than the rest of the decoration,

may have been commissioned as part of marriage preparations, perhaps as gifts to the wedded couple. The

subjects are chosen according to the intellectual background of the house-dwellers and their milieu, from literary

and mythological narratives that are meant to protect the new family’s happiness and union, serve as a

reminder of marriage and symbolize the perpetuity of the family’s progeny and its prosperity.

Keywords

Zeugma, Mosaic, epithalamium, iconography, marriage rites

Zeugma Konut Kontekstlerinde Mozaik Dekorasyon Programları

Abstract

Bu makalede, Zeugma Antik Kentinde ve diğer bazı Greko-Romen merkezlerde özel hayatın geçtiği konutlardaki

mozaik dekorasyon programı ele alınmaktadır. Tartışmanın çıkış noktasını ise Zeugma’da bir Roma

konutunda ortaya çıkarılmış yazıtlı bir mozaik oluşturmaktadır. Mozaik üzerinde geometrik desenler arasında

bir panoda yer alan yazıtta, mozaiğin bulunduğu bu evde yaşamış ve isimleri kısmen yazıtta da korunmuş

olan yeni evli bir çift için yazılmış bir evlilik şiiri, bir epithalamium (gerdek şarkısı) yer alır. Bu yazıt, özel

konutlarda yer alan yemek odaları ve mahrem odalardaki mozaik ve duvar resimlerinin konularının, antik

dönem edebi metinlerinde ve mitolojide ideal evlilik kavramıyla özdeşleşmiş tanrı, tanrıça veya diğer tanınmış

sevgililerin hikayeleriyle bağlantılı olduğunu düşündürmektedir. Bu kavramların resmedilmesinde, özellikle

evlilikle bağlantılı Dionysos ve Bakhik ritüel betimlemeler de ana sahneye dahil edilerek vurgulanmaktaydı.

Makale, özel hayatın geçtiği konutlarda genel dekorasyonun önemli bir parçası olan ve diğer dekorasyona

göre çok daha kalıcı olan bu mozaiklerin birçoğunun evlilik hazırlıkları içinde ısmarlanmış, hatta bazılarının

evlilik hediyesi olarak yapılmış olabileceğini ortaya koymaktadır. Konular genellikle ev yaşayanlarının veya

çevresinin entelektüel altyapılarına göre seçilmiş, kurulan yeni ailede mutluluğu ve birlikteliği koruyacak,

evliliği hatırlatacak ve ailenin soyunun devamını ve bereketini sembolize edecek edebi ve mitolojik hikayeler

ile ilgilidir.

Keywords

Zeugma, mozaik, epithalamium, ikonografi, evlilik gelenekleri

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