Remarkable Mosaic Uncovered Beneath War-Torn City

1/12/2023

Christella Reyes '23

A captivating mosaic incomparable in Syrian art history was brought to light after excavations in Homs, the war-torn country's third-largest metropolitan province.

A gigantic circle in the epicenter of the mosaic, which used half-inch painted tiles of square-shaped, small colorful stones to depict epic scenes, comprised images of 'Achilles' from Homer's The Iliad, which articulated the Trojan War between Troy and the Greeks.

Moreover, there are also portrayals of Greek and Roman gods, like Neptune (Poseidon) and Hercules, as well as the mythological Amazonian queen Penthesilea.

The Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums dated the 65-foot-long (20-meter) embellishing flooring back to the Roman epoch, some 1600 years ago. "What is in front of us is a discovery that's rare on a global scale," said Hamman Saad, a senior official at Syria's General Directorate of Museums and Antiquities.

The mosaic was located in a building deriving from the 4th century in the city of al-Rastan, which may have been a common bathhouse. Syrian heritage sites have been raided and obliterated over the past decade of continuous violent conflict.

Among the most prominent incidents was the Islamic State group seizing Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that possesses 2,000-year-old soaring Roman-era colonnades and invaluable artifacts, and is somewhat eradicating a Roman theater. Meanwhile, Syria's cash-strapped government has gradually been reconstructing Aleppo's centuries-old bazaar after reclaiming it from armed opposition parties in 2016.

Rastan was once a considerable resistance fortress and matter of passionate contentions before the Syrian government reclaimed the city in 2018.