Writing in stones

In ARP.3 we’ve taken a more concentrated interest in the texts in the Antioch corpus—words written out in stone tesserae in the middle of mosaic scenes. So far, all of the texts that we have encountered in the corpus are written in ancient Greek, often in red or black tesserae fitted together to shape the letters of individual words, which often label figures in the mosaic scene.

These labels include: personifications of rivers and landmasses—the Tigris rover, the region of Kilikia; personifications of qualities—splendor, abundance, renewal; personifications of seasons and consumables—Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall, wine, harvest, crops, identifications of characters and divinities—Narkisos, Ekhō, Dionysos, Menander, Tethys, Ge; instructions—welcome, friendship, “and you”.

These texts made from stones highlight the materiality of writing and a beholder’s embodied engagement with text and image together.