Antioch: The Lost Ancient City [Paperback]

Christine Kondoleon (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 2000

This lavish exhibition catalog brings to life Antioch, the magnificent city known for its Hellenic culture and luxurious way of life, once ranking with Rome, Alexandria, and Constantinople as one of the great metropolises of the Roman and early Christian world. Located in what is now southern Turkey, Antioch was the capital of Ancient Syria, a vital marketplace at the crossroads between East and West. It was here that St. Paul preached to the first gentile community to be called "Christians" and where a Greek-speaking Jewish culture flourished alongside Roman, Egyptian, and Near Eastern cults. A large middle-class shared in the wealth and culture of the city, and art abounded in numerous forms, especially in beautiful mosaics depicting scenes from mythology and everyday life. Featuring 118 objects excavated from the city's ruins, all reproduced in full color, Antioch: The Lost Ancient City recreates the spatial sensation, visual splendor, and cultural richness of this urban center.

Devastated by an earthquake in 526 C.E., as well as by fires, plagues and invasions by Persians, Antioch survived only in memory through ancient written accounts until the 1930s, when excavations revealed a wealth of finds from the private houses of its inhabitants, including a large cache of floor mosaics. In addition, archaeologists found several churches, a stadium, a circus, a theater, and several baths. This catalogs displays and describes the excavated artifacts -- mosaics, sculpture, glass, metalwork, coins -- within their architectural and cultural contexts, thereby evoking the street life as well as the domestic lives of Antioch's citizens. Among the treasures are the mosaics The Drinking Contestbetween Dionysos and Herakles and The Judgment of Paris, the Antioch chalice, gold jewelry from Syria, bronze tyche figurines, and mosaics of river and sea deities. Antioch emerges as a compelling model of a melting-pot city, one that challenges our own notions of civic community and diversity.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A serious attempt is made to set the mosaics in their architectural context. . . . -- New York Review of Books

[An] excellent catalog, creating, in effect, a handsomely illustrated memoir of ancient Antioch, once lost and now found again. -- Choice

[Not a] mere exhibition catalog... [A] standard text on the art and culture of an ancient civilization. -- Lamia Doumato, Art Documentation

About the Author

Christine Kondoleon is Curator of Greek and Roman Art at the Worcester Art Museum. Her books include Domestic and Divine: Roman Mosaics in the House of Dionysus and, with Anna Gonosova, Art of Late Rome and Byzantium in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Kondoleon is the coeditor, with Bettina Bergmann, of The Art of Ancient Spectacle. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (November 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691049335
• ISBN-13: 978-0691049335
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 8.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #937,354 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Complete and Attractive introduction to Antiochene Study, February 21, 2001

By 

James Jan Sullivan (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Antioch: The Lost Ancient City (Paperback)

Kondoleon's book is wonderful collection of articles and images that serve as an excellent introduction to the archeology of Antioch. The focus is late antique. Although Antoich is most famous for its mosaics, the book covers other subjects, including sculpture, coinage and baths etc. The color images are beautiful and the reconstructed layouts of the mosaics IN SITU are superb and very helpful in the study of interior private architecture. Especially interesting were the computer reconstructions of the Antiochene bathes and a church. I think this is an excellent direction in art historical works as they really help visualize the buildings that are being reconstructed.

All in all, a very useful and informative work.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Research Tool, August 18, 2008

By 

E. G. Lewis (Coastal Oregon) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Antioch: The Lost Ancient City (Paperback)

Purchased this book for research on a novel I'm writing. The book is jam packed with great information. The illustrations are terrific and give you a real feel for what life must have been like in Roman Antioch. Follows the rise and decline of the city. Lots of info.