Antioch's reputation as the "Athens of the Near East" inspired an American-led team of archaeologists to excavate the site from 1932-39. The institutions leading the excavation - Princeton University, Baltimore Museum of Art, Musées Nationaux de France (Louvre), and the Worcester Art Museum - discovered ancient treasures that lay buried beneath fields and olive groves for more than a millennium. The excavations yielded the largest collection of Roman domestic mosaics of the highest quality found anywhere in the Mediterranean dated from 120 - 520 AD.

Antioch: The Lost Ancient City is the first time the institutions participating in the excavation will show the unearthed objects together. In making an unprecedented loan, the Louvre agreed to lend Judgement of Paris and other Antioch mosaics for the first time since they had been installed on the walls of France's national museum in 1935.

Last Updated: December 14, 2000