Image Details

Photo by Harf Zimmerman

A second Pompeii? Like the celebrated villas of Pompeii, some of the houses at Zeugma are decorated with elaborate wall frescoes (shown here, compare with detail of wall fresco). Whenever possible, the city’s wall paintings and mosaics have been relocated to the nearby Gaziantep Museum. In situations in which artifacts cannot be safely removed, archaeologists have sought to insulate and waterproof them, in the hope that they will survive the city’s long but temporary inundation. (The artificial lake that is flooding Zeugma is expected to drain away in about 50 years.)