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MUSEUMS / 162 MUSEUMS / 163
MUSEUMS
Gaziantep Museum
The museum is located in the center
of fiehitkamil District of Gaziantep
on the Kamil Ocak Street.
It is also known as Archeology
Museum or Zeugma Museum. In
the archeology hall of the museum’s
old building, there are artifacts
from pre-historical ages to
the Islamic period. Some of the
items being displayed in this hall
are ceramics pieces from Neolithic
Age, some items from Chalcolithic
and Bronze Ages, figurines,
seal imprints, some stone and
bronze artifacts, jewelry, and
glasswork from the Urartu, the
Hittite, the Sassanid, the Roman,
and the Byzantine periods.
In the section where the stages of
human development are being
displayed, one can see the Paleolithic
stone tools collected along
Dülük and Euphrates, swords,
axes, and figurines from Bronze
Age, metal artifacts from Urartu
Kingdom. The easiest way to get
to the room with small artifacts is
going through the room with the
grave of a person from Bronze
Age and from there to a long gallery
with Hittite and Assyrian stone
artifacts, and finally to the
small artifacts room. In this room,
there are bronze human animal
statues, bone and bronze hairpins,
seal imprints, gold and silver
jewelries, some silver coins
from the Archaic period, silver
coins from the Hellenistic period,
Islamic gold coins, and silver coins
and award pins from Ottomans.
You could also see the maenad
Gypsy Girl Mosaic, which became
the symbol of the ancient city of
Zeugma.
The Zeugma Salon is located in
the new addition of the old building
which is connected to each
other by a corridor. As you can
see from the name, this exhibition
is only to display the artifacts
from the excavations in Zeugma.
These artifacts are listed as mosaics,
statues, and tombstones.
The ancient city Zeugma’s mosaics
and fresco paintings are currently
being displayed in 16 different
salons of Gaziantep Museum.
One can see the life style, belief
systems, traditions, artistic movement
of Zeugma through these
priceless artifacts just like watching
a theatrical play.
At the entrance of the museum,
the mosaic depicting Theonoe in a
pink dress makes everyone feel like
it is welcoming the visitors inside.
Right in front of this Theonoe
mosaic, there is the mosaic
which depicts the love (Eros) and
spirit (Psykhe) next to each other.
The museum displays authentic
Poseidon and Euphrates houses’
peristyle, their dining rooms, their
inner courts with their mosaics
and fresco paintings. If you follow
the passage towards the right, you
could get to the mosaic depicting
the marriage of Dionysus.
Bronze Statue of Mars, god of
war, is being displayed in the
center of “Mars Salon”, which
is the biggest room of the museum.
In this statue, Mars is
depicted holding a spear on
his right hand and flowers
on his left hand.
Right across from the Mars
Salon, there is a salon called
“Women Room”. The mosaic
depicts Crowning of Aphrodite
and is located on the floor of
Women Room. Across from this
room, there are some
busts and statues of men
and women. An earthenware
jar sealed by some of
the one hundred thousand
seal imprints, which were
discovered in the archive room of
Zeugma during the excavations,
amphora, chest, and a papyrus
document is being displayed next
to the busts and statues of women
and men.
Turning left after this section takes
you to the mosaic depicting
Euphrates, god of river, and the
mosaic depicting a scene from the
theatrical play “Women at Breakfast”.
When you proceed to the second
floor of the museum from Euphrates
Salon, you will see the floor
mosaics of two different Zeugma
houses, Galatia room which is
decorated with the mosaics and
fresco paintings depicting the festival
of Dionysus (Dionysia), and a
bust of Dionysus.
The museum starts with the lovely
dress of Theonoe which represents
love and life, and ends with a family
grave representing the unavoidable
end.
In the garden around the Museum,
the exhibition takes us to stelas
from different periods of history,
embossed inscriptions of
Teschup (god of sky), lion and
sphinx statues. The
museum visit
ends with the
tombstones
with eagle
and wool
basket
embossments,
human
figures,
querns
(hand mills),
and sarcophaguses.