New Osrhoene Mosaics Discovered In Situ in Northern Syria

Year 2020, Issue: 13, 1 - 34, 02.11.2020

Komait Abdallah Alain Desreumaux Mohamad Al-kaid

https://doi.org/10.26658/jmr.782048

Cited By: 2

Abstract

In 2017, a mosaic was discovered in a plain near Tell Shioukh Tehtani, located 60 km northeast of Aleppo in the Euphrates Valley and is known for remains from the Bronze Age found by an Italian-Syrian archaeological mission. The mosaic was found during a clandestine excavation carried out before 2017. The Directorate of Antiquity in Damascus which was informed by the local society sent a team of restorers who excavated and documented all the floor mosaic before removing it to the service of antiquity at Al-Hassake province. The work of the restorers has shown that this mosaic is the remains of the pavements of a private villa. The drawing plan done by the restorers shows a part of this building composed of several rooms and a corridor. All these parts are paved with mosaics, some of them was in situ, others were looted. The apse main room is paved with a mosaic around a basin in the center; there remains only one carpet figured by the Achilles scene in Skyros; the figures are identified by inscriptions in Syriac. In another room, there is a mosaic around a basin in the center representing a foliage of vine coming out of the vases with four Eros. The mosaic of the corridor is decorated with geometric patterns. The stylistic study shows that these mosaics are very close to those found at Edessa (Urfa) and dated to the 3rd century AD. This mosaic has an exceptional importance because, on the one hand, it attests the diffusion of the Edessa mosaics workshops outside the city and its region, and on the other hand, it gives an idea on the decoration of the mosaics in the public buildings in this region in Roman times.

Keywords

Syria, Osrhoene, mosaic, Syriac, mythology

Nouvelles mosaïques d’Osrhoène découvertes in situ en Syrie du nord

Abstract

In 2017, a mosaic was discovered in a plain near Tell Shioukh Tehtani, located 60 km northeast of Aleppo in the Euphrates Valley and is known for remains from the Bronze Age found by an Italian-Syrian archaeological mission. The mosaic was found during a clandestine excavation carried out before 2017. The Directorate of Antiquity in Damascus which was informed by the local society sent a team of restorers who excavated and documented all the floor mosaic before removing it to the service of antiquity at Al-Hassake province. The work of the restorers has shown that this mosaic is the remains of the pavements of a private villa. The drawing plan done by the restorers shows a part of this building composed of several rooms and a corridor. All these parts are paved with mosaics, some of them was in situ, others were looted. The apse main room is paved with a mosaic around a basin in the center; there remains only one carpet figured by the Achilles scene in Skyros; the figures are identified by inscriptions in Syriac. In another room, there is a mosaic around a basin in the center representing a foliage of vine coming out of the vases with four Eros. The mosaic of the corridor is decorated with geometric patterns. The stylistic study shows that these mosaics are very close to those found at Edessa (Urfa) and dated to the 3rd century AD. This mosaic has an exceptional importance because, on the one hand, it attests the diffusion of the Edessa mosaics workshops outside the city and its region, and on the other hand, it gives an idea on the decoration of the mosaics in the public buildings in this region in Roman times.
Keywords: Syria,

Keywords

Syria, Osrhoene, mosaic, Syriac, mythology

Suriye’nin Kuzeyinde in situ Yeni Osrhoene Mozaikleri

Abstract

2017 yılında Fırat Vadisi’ndeki Halep’in 60 km kuzeydoğusunda yer alan ve Bronz Çağı’ndan kalma kalıntıları ile bilinen Tell Shioukh Tehtani’nin yakınındaki düzlükte, İtalyan-Suriye arkeolojik misyonu tarafından bir mozaik bulundu. Mozaik, 2017’den önce gerçekleştirilen kaçak bir kazı sırasında bulundu. Yerel halk tarafından konu hakkında bilgilendirilen Şam Eski Eserler Müdürlüğü, taban mozaiğini kazıp Al-Hassake şehrinde antika servisine götürmeden önce, belgeleme için bir restoratör ekibi gönderdi. Restoratörlerin çalışmaları, bu mozaiğin özel bir villanın taban döşemelerinin kalıntıları olduğunu göstermiştir. Restoratörler tarafından çizilen kroki, bu binanın birkaç oda ve bir koridordan oluşan bölümünü göstermektedir. Tüm bu bölümler mozaiklerle kaplıdır, bazıları in situ durmaktadır, bazıları ise yağmalanmıştır. Yarım kubbeli ana oda, merkezdeki bir alanın etrafında mozaikle döşenmiştir; Skyros’taki Akhilleus sahnesinin olduğu tek bir döşeme bulunmuştur; figürler Süryanice yazıtlarla tanımlanmıştır. Başka bir odada ise, merkezdeki bir alan etrafında dört Eroslu vazolardan çıkan bir asma yaprağını temsil eden mozaik vardır. Koridorun mozaiği geometrik desenlerle süslenmiştir. Stilistik çalışma, bu mozaiklerin Edessa’da (Urfa) bulunan ve İS 3. yüzyıla tarihlenen mozaiklere çok yakın olduğunu göstermektedir. Bu mozaik olağanüstü bir öneme sahiptir, çünkü bir yandan Edessa mozaik atölyelerinin kendi şehir ve bölgesi dışında yayılmış olduğunu kanıtlarken, diğer yandan mozaiklerin kamu binalarının Roma Dönemi’nde bu bölgedeki dekorasyonu hakkında fikir verir.

Keywords

Suriye, Osrhoene, mozaik, Süryanice, mitoloji

References

• Balty 1977 J. Balty, Mosaïques antiques de la Syrie, Bruxelles.
• Balty 2013 J. Balty, “Achille à Skyros : Polysémie de l‘image mythologique”, M. Galinier – F. Baratte (éds.), Iconographie funéraire romaine et société : corpus antique, approches nouvelles ? : (Actes du colloque international tenu à Perpignan, 30 septembre 2 octobre 2010), 117-129.
• Balty 2014 J. Balty, “Les mosaïques des maisons de Palmyre”, Inventaire des mosaïques antiques en Syrie 2, Beyrouth.
• Balty - Briquel Chatonnet 2000 J. Balty - F. Briquel Chatonnet, “Nouvelles mosaïques inscrites d‘Osrhoène”, Monuments et mémoire de la Fondation Eugène Piot, tome 79, 31-72.
• Blanchard-Lemée et al. 1995 M. Blanchard-Lemée - M. Ennaïfer - H. Slim - L. Slim, Sols de la Tunisie romaine, Paris.
• Boardman -Vafopoulou-Richardson 1986 J. Boardman - C. Vafopoulou-Richardson, “Diomede I”, LIMC III, 1-2, 396-409, Zürich-München-Düsseldorf.
• Bowersock 2001 G. W. Bowersock, “Notes on the new Edessene mosaic of Prometheus”, Hyp 7, 411-416.
• Brock 1971 S. Brock, The Syriac Version of The Pseudo-Nonnos mythological scholia, Cambridge.
• Bujard - Provenzale 2004 S. Bujard - V. Provenzale, “Le plafond aux plumes de paon de la villa de Colombier (Suisse)”, L. Borhy (ed.), Plafonds et voûtes à l‘époque antique. Actes du VIIIe Colloque international de l‘Association Internationale pour la Peinture Murale Antique (AIPMA) 15–19 mai 2001, Budapest–Veszprém, 319-320.
• Chéhab 1958 M. Chéhab, “Mosaïques du Liban”, BMusBeyrouth, XIV-XV, Paris.
• Cimok 2000 F. Cimok, A corpus of Antioch mosaics, İstanbul.
• Colledge 1977 M. A. R. Colledge, The Art of Palmyra, London.
• Cureton 1855 W. Cureton, Spicilegium Syriacum, London.
• Darmon 2005 J.-P. Darmon, “Le programme idéologique du décor en mosaïque de la Maison de la Télété dionysiaque, dite aussi de Poséidon, à Zeugma (Belkis, Turquie)”, LMGR IX, 2, Rome, 1279-1288.
• Darmon 2016 J.-P. Darmon, “Compte rendu du livre publié par Janine Balty : les mosaïques des maisons de Palmyre (2014)”, BAssMosAnt 24, 504-507.
• Décor I C. Balmelle – M. Blanchard Lemée – J. Christophe – J.-P. Darmon – A.-M. Guimier Sorbets – H. Lavagne – R. Prudhomme – H. Stern, Le Décor Géométrique de la Mosaïque Romaine I, Paris, 1985.
• Delvoye 1984 Ch. Delvoye, “Éléments classiques et innovations dans l‘illustration de la légende d‘Achille au bas-Empire”, AntCl 53, 184-199.
• Drijvers 1973 H. J. W. Drijvers, “Some new Syriac Inscriptions and Archaeological Finds from Edessa and Sumatar Harabesi”, BSOAS 36, 1, 1-14.
• Drijvers - Healey 1999 H. J. W. Drijvers - J. F. Healey, The Old Syriac Inscriptions of Edessa & Osrhoene, Texts, Translations & Commentary, Leiden-Boston-Köln.
• Eliades 1986 G. S. Eliades, La maison de Dionysos : la villa aux mosaïques de la nouvelle Paphos, Paphos.
• Eristov - Vibert-Guigue 2014 H. Eristov - C. Vibert- Guigue, “Iconographie funéraire à Palmyre entre Orient et Occident: le tombeau des Trois Frères“, N. Zimmermann (ed.), Antike Malerei zwischen Lokalstil und Zeitstil, actes du XIe colloque de l’AIMPA, Éphèse 13-17 septembre 2010, AF, 23, 349-358.
• Eristrov - Vibert-Guigue 2019 H. Eristrov - C.Vibert-Guigue, “Analyse iconographique du décor peint”, H. Eristov - C. Vibert-Guigue (eds.), Le tombeau des trois frères à Palmyre, Beyrouth, 115-132.
• Fantar 1994 M. H. Fantar, La mosaïque en Tunisie, Paris.
• Ghedini 2004 F. Ghedini, Le immagini di Filostrato Minore: La prospettiva dello storico dell‘arte, Padova.
• Giroud 2006 F. Giroud, “Coup de théâtre à Skyros : la révélation d‘Achille, interprétation d‘un sarcophage attique conservé au musée de Louvain”, Latomus 65, 1 (janvier-mars 2006), 119-123.
• Healey 2006 J. F. Healey, “A New Syriac Mosaic Inscription”, JSS LI/2, 313-327.
• Hilkens 2013 A. Hilkens, “Syriac Ilioupersides: The fall of Troy in Syriac Historiography”, Muséon 126, 285-317.
• Kossatz-Deissman 1981 A. Kossatz-Deissman, “Achilleus”, LIMC I, 1-2, 37-200, Zürich-München-Düsseldorf.
• Kossatz-Deissmann 1986 A. Kossatz-Deissmann, “Briseis”, LIMC III, 1-2, 157-167, Zürich-München-Düsseldorf.
• Levi 1947 D. Levi, Antioch Mosaic Pavements, I-II, Princeton.
• Linane de Bellefonds 1986 P. Linane de Bellefonds, “Agyrtes”, LIMC I, 1-2, 308-311, Zürich-München-Düsseldorf.
• Martz 2015 A. S. Martz, “Morphologie et signification des triclinia dans les maisons de Syrie du Nord”, C. Abadie-Reynal - J.-B. Yon (eds.), La Syrie romaine : Permanences et transferts culturels, Paris, 165-184.
• Morvillez 1996 E. Morvillez, “Sur les installations de lits de table en sigma dans l‘architecture domestique du Haut et du Bas-Empire”, Pallas 44, 119-158.
• Morvillez 2007 E. Morvillez, “A propos de l‘architecture domestique d‘Antioche, de Daphné et de Séleucie”, K. Gabr - T. Waliszewski (eds.), From Antioche to Alexandria: Recent studies in Domestics architecture, Warsaw, 51-70.
• Ovadiah - Ovadiah 1987 R. Ovadiah – A. Ovadiah, Hellenistic, Roman and Early Byzantine Mosaic Pavements in Israel, Rome.
• Önal et al. 2007 M. Önal - F. Bulgan - H. Güllüce, Belkıs Zeugma and Its Mosaics, İstanbul.
• Önal 2017 M. Önal, Urfa-Edessa Mozaikleri, Şanlıurfa.
• Quet 2011 M. H. Quet, “L‘Euphrate Roi de la mosaïque d‘El Mas‘udiyé (Syrie)”, Comissão Executiva do Xo Col AIEMA (eds.), O mosaico romano nos centros e nas periferias : originalidades, influências e identidades : actas / do Colóquio Internacional da Associação Internacional para o Estudo do Mosaico Antigo (AIEMA) - Conimbriga, vol. 2, 1317-1323, Conimbriga.
• Payne Smith 1864 R. Payne Smith, Catalogi codicum manuscriptorum bibliothecae Bodleianae, pars VIta, Codices Syriacos, Carshunicos, Mandaeos complectens, Oxford.
• Payne Smith 1879 R. Payne Smith, Thesaurus Syriacum, Oxford, 1879-1901 ; réimpr. Hildesheim, Georg Olms, 1981.
• Possekel 2008 U. Possekel, “Orpheus among the Animals: a New Dated Mosaic From Osrhoene”, OrChr 92, 1–35.
• Ross 2001 K. S. Ross, Roman Edessa, Politics and Culture on the Eastern Fringes of the Roman Empire, 114–242 CE, London and Newyork.
• Salman 2008 B. Salman, “Family, Death and Afterlife According to Mosaics of the Abgar Royal Period in the Region of Osroene”, JMR 1-2, 103-115.
• Stace Stace, Achilléide, traduit par F. Ripoli & J. Soubiran, Leuvent, Peeters 2008.
• Stern 1977 H. Stern, Les mosaïques des maisons d‘Achille et de Cassiopée à Palmyre, Paris.
• Touchefeu-Meynier 1961 O. Touchefeu-Meynier, “Ulysse et Circé : notes sur le chant X de l‘Odyssée”, REA 63, 3-4, 264-270.
• Touchefeu-Meynier 1992 O. Touchefeu-Meynier, “Odyssus”, LIMC IV, 1-2, 943-970, Zürich-München-Düsseldorf.
• Yon 2019 J.-B. Yon, “Inscriptions araméennes”, H. Eristov - C. Vibert-Guigue (eds.), Le tombeau des trois frères à Palmyre, Beyrouth, 134-139.