"Unearthing a Masterpiece: A Roman Mosaic from Lod, Israel," opens at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia on February 10 and runs through May 19. The Penn Museum is the final U.S. venue for the Lod Mosaic, which premiered at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and travels to the Louvre in Paris after Philadelphia.
The exhibition features the three most complete and impressive panels found in what was probably a large reception room. The details of the mosaic include wild animals and ships. Lod is located near Tel Aviv, and the site was initially settled in the 5th millennium BCE. Its name appears in the written record as early as the 15th century BCE—in a list of towns in Canaan that was compiled during the reign of the pharaoh Thutmose III (1479–1425 BCE)—and also in the Old and New Testaments. In the 1st century CE, the inhabitants of Lod were sold into slavery and subsequently the town was razed. A Roman colony under the name of Diospolis (City of God) was established there in 200 CE.
Special guests from the Israeli Consulate, Israeli Antiquities Authority, the Italian Embassy, and the Italian Consulate join us at the official ribbon cutting Sunday, February 10 at 1:00 pm. Dr. C. Brian Rose offers a lecture on the mosaic at 2:00 pm.
Source: Penn Museum [January 15, 2013]