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Photo: Anadolu, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Zeugma means a junction or binding together, and refers to the pontoon bridge across the Euphrates. The Romans built a garrison town here and the senior officers owned fine villas decorated with mosaics. Zeugma was abandoned in the 7th century AD and almost forgotten, until the 2000 construction of the Birecik dam prompted emergency archaeological excavation. The mosaics were taken to Gaziantep and the best are still there, but some have been returned to this museum.
Zeugma was an ancient Hellenistic era Greek and then Roman city of Commagene; located in modern Gaziantep Province, Turkey. It was named for the bridge of boats, or zeugma, that crossed the Euphrates at that location. Zeugma Mosaic Museum contains mosaics from the site, and is one of the largest mosaic museums in the world.
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