Antioch Mosaics at the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA)

Antioch is an Ancient Greek city located in modern day Antakya, Turkey near the border of Syria. The ancient metropolis blended cultural and economic influences from the East (as far as Persia) and the West (as far as Rome) (Kondoleon 4). The city has long interested historians as the birthplace of the term "Christians" to refer to the followers of Christ.....

The French Mandate for Syria and Lebanon began in 1920 and lasted until 1946. Under the mandate, France claimed responsibility for cultivating the region's ability to self-govern. During this time, the French authorities launched many archaeological excavations in the Near East. One of these expeditions was set in motion in Antioch in 1927.

In 1927, the French Antiquities Service reached out to Princeton University with a proposal for the institution to excavate Antioch Charles Rufus Morey, the chair of Princeton's Department of Art and Archaeology at the time, caught word of this proposition. He had previously worked on an archaeological expedition in Syria under Princeton Professor of the History of Architecture Howard Crosby Butler, and was thus extremely excited about this potential project. He wrote to the then Princeton President Bryard Dodge in December of 1927, stating, "As you probably know, we have had this project as a dream for some years." Morey conceptualized the venture as an extension of his work with Professor Butler, so much so that he even debated naming the project "the Howard Crosby Butler Memorial Expedition in Syria" (De Giorgi 30).

With much enthusiasm around the work, in 1930, Princeton was granted the right to excavate for six years by the Syrian Antiquities Service ("Committee for the Excavation"). The agreement was set to begin on January 1, 1931. Many institutions were struggling at this point, as the Great Depression swept the United States. Thus, in order to ensure proper funding, Princeton partnered with the Worcester Art Museum, the Musées National de France and the Baltimore Museum of Art to form the Committee for the Excavation of Antioch-on-the-Orontes. The team would later grow to include the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University and Dumbarton Oaks in 1936 (Kondoleon 5). The committee was to divide up the findings and enter them into the collections of their respective institutions.

On March 4, 1932, fieldwork began. Four expeditions ensued between 1933 and 1936. When the agreement expired, The Department of Syrian Antiquities granted the team another six years on the ground. Thus, the fieldwork was able to continue until 1939, when tensions arose around continued funding, impending wars in the region, and the start of World War II ("Committee for the Excavation").

When the crew first began their excavation in Antioch, they were hunting for monuments that had been textually narrated in historical works such as Libanios but he sixth century historian Malalas. These monuments were described as architectural structures, including many churches that were intimately tied to the origins of Christianity. Among these structures the team was hoping to locate were "a grand colonnaded avenue with bridges leading to the royal district on the island in the Orontes... with its palace and hippodrome, the Forum of Valens, the octagonal Golden Church of Constantine, [and] the round Church of the Virgin of Justinian" (Kondoleon 7). Contrary to their expectations, what the team found were not public or religious remnants, but rather mosaics from the private homes of Antioch's elite class.

This surprising turn of events caught many of the initial sponsors off guard. Some sponsors were initially disappointed. Some even considered withdrawing their sponsorships, until the special nature of the mosaics revealed themselves. This is evident in the case of the Louvre, where representatives only agreed to continue their patronage after the discovery of the Judgement of Paris mosaic.......

The Baltimore Museum of Art was founded as a public museum in 1914 on the conviction that "access to art and ideas is integral to a vibrant and healthy civic life" ("The Baltimore"). The museum is best known for its contemporary (specifically 18th, 19th, and 20th century) American art, but also has strong collections in other fields, as exemplified in its Antioch collection.

The Baltimore Museum of Art, as a public institution, has built up its collection through the generosity of patrons. The Antioch collection was spearheaded by Robert Garrett, a member of the governing board of the Baltimore Museum of Art and an alumni and trustee of Princeton University. Garrett, who had amassed sizable wealth under his family's banking house of Robert Garrett & Son, was a frequent patron of archaeological excavations in the Near East as well as community enhancement projects in Baltimore. The Antioch excavations allowed him to continue financing excavations while bettering his city. Towards these ends, Garrett served as the main representative of the Baltimore Museum of Art in all Antioch related communications and decisions.....

There are currently 24 pavements on view in the Museum's sunlit Antioch Court ("Antioch Mosaics"). There are a number more that are not on display, as evidenced by the full inventory of mosaics in the collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art that is listed below. The list is organized by accession number.

•  Mosaic of Dancing Maenad  (Atrium House), 1933.52.1
•  Mosaic of Dancing Satyr  (Atrium House), 1933.52.2
•  Bust of Tethys on a Marine Background , 1937.118
•  Lion and Humped Ox , 1937.119
•  Tigress and Boar , 1937.120
•  Leopard and Goat , 1937.121
•  Lioness, Stag and Bear , 1937.122
•  Sea Thiaos , 1937.123
•  Tethys and Oceanus , 1937.126
•  Opora, Agros, and Linos at Dinner , 1937.127
•  Peddler of Erotes , 1937.128
•  Europa and the Bull , 1937.129
•  Border with Rams' Heads , 1937.130
•  Geometric Panel , 1937.131
•  Meander Border , 1937.132
•  Bird Rinceau , 1937.133
•  Bird Rinceau , 1937.135
•  The Striding Lion (Fragment) , 1937.136
•  Striding Lion , 1937.139
•  Section of Lion Panel , 1937.142
•  Bust with Octagon , 1937.143
•  Star of Lozenges Panel , 1937.144
•  The Beribboned Parrots , 1937.147
•  Geometric Panel,  1937.148
•  Panel with Intersecting Octagons , 1937.145
•  Panel with Stars and Squares , 1937. 146
•  Galatea , 1938.470
•  Narcissus , 1938.710
•  Medallion with Bacchus,  1938.711
•  Geometric Panel , 1940.166e

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North Late Wall View from SE. See 1934-9 13-R Progress Notes Fieldbook. The Excavation of Antioch-On-The-Orontes 1932-1939, Princeton University, vrc.princeton.edu/researchphotographs/s/antioch/item/26691#?c=&m=&s=&cv=&xywh=-579%2C-1%2C2162%2C1024. Accessed 1 July 2020.

Preliminary map of Antioch showing projected location of ancient features and probable areas for excavation. The Excavation of Antioch-On-The-Orontes 1932-1939, Princeton University, vrc.princetoWorks Cited