Eros-Psykhe
Posted on 05/23/2006 11:00:05 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Eros-Psykhe
(Excerpt) Read more at turkishdailynews.com.tr ...
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
In Before The Zeugma!!
What are "Zeugma " mosaics?
A Race to Save Roman Splendors From DrowningA new lake is being formed as water from the Euphrates River backs up behind a new dam. Turkey is in the midst of a huge dam-building project that is to provide electric power for the country's booming economy and irrigation for parched farmland in southeastern provinces. The ruins here are those of Zeugma, an important Roman garrison town on the ancient Silk Road. Trade made many of its merchants wealthy, and they decorated the floors of their villas with elaborate mosaics... Although archaeologists have been working here sporadically for more than 20 years, they began intensive work only recently after realizing that the inundation was imminent. It quickly became clear that Zeugma was a far more bountiful site than most specialists had realized, but by then it was too late to stop the flooding... Directors of the Gaziantep archaeology museum, where artifacts dug up at Zeugma are piled high, scorned an American philanthropist, Shawn Estes, who appeared here two weeks ago and offered the museum a gift of $20,000... The authorities have, however, accepted a $5 million grant from a California-based foundation, the Packard Humanities Institute... It is still unclear, and may be for years, how much of Zeugma is being lost. Some specialists believe it may be less than 10 percent. Others say there is no way of being sure, since an unknown portion of the city is already under water and no one is certain how much remains buried beneath the adjacent hills.
by Stephen Kinzer
July 3, 2000
Eros and Psyche? Is this old Turkish porn?
Just barely, though.
LOL!
LOL! The area was occupied by Greeks for over 1,000 years before the Turks moved in.
Well, I would never think so, but then there are lots of Freepers who will surely have the vapors...
Looking at the really long term, whatever remains unexcavated under the reservoir is safe indefinitely.
Fascinating site; Thank you.
Any time. Some of the stuff they've found in Zeugma are bloody awesome!
Beautiful !!
If the radical Muslims come into power in Turkey, they'll probably destroy all these treasures because they portray human and animal forms and that's against their religion.
Remember the Bamayan Bhuddas they destroyed in Afghanistan!
Thanks! I poked around your profile and found that earlier, very nice.
Centuries of submergence will probably destroy 'em, but hey, interest in the site is best summed up as "very little" prior to the hydro project. There are other sites which need to be excavated now, while there is plenty of time (that is, prior to dam construction on other rivers and the like). Zeugma is a large site, and there could be perishable materials of interest, but alas, no one will ever know now.
Turkey views its water as an important resource among its neighbors to the south; in the 1990s sometime the Turkish PM of the time suggested something he called the "Peace Canal" to supply fresh water to Syria, Israel, Jordan, and points south (Kuwait perhaps, I forget), but literally no one was interested. Israel didn't want Syria in de facto control over part of its water supply, neither did Jordan (Syria has already cut off a bunch of Jordan's water supply with dams).
The project to run a submerged pipeline (anchored to the ocean floor, since fresh water is lighter) to Cyprus is at best dormant, couldn't get financing, and there was a foreign policy flap in Europe about it.
Seems to me that a "peace pipeline" along the sea floor to supply Cyprus, and Israel, and Gaza, would be worthwhile, but of course, I'm just some guy on the internet.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.