![]() “Unfortunately, there were armed groups that tried to sell the mosaic at one point in 2017 and listed it on social media platforms,” Saad told the AP. The mosaic was uncovered in a fourth-century building, but researchers don’t know what the building was used for. The Syrian civil war also spawned extensive antiquities looting - conducted by the Islamic State and other groups - with sales placing some of those objects across the world. Some of those artifacts include the 1,800-year-old Arch of Triumph, the 1,500-year-old Mar Elian monastery, and the 2,000-year-old Lion of Al-lāt. Over the past 11 years, important cultural heritage sites have been destroyed across the country, and following the siege of Palmyra in 2015, the Islamic State destroyed a vast swath of the city’s ancient art. While this impressive mosaic has survived Syria’s civil war, many ancient works did not. Saad called the mosaic “rare on a global scale.” “We can’t identify the type of the building, whether it’s a public bathhouse or something else,” Saad said. ![]() The mosaic is part of a fourth-century structure whose purpose has not yet been determined. “It is not the oldest of its kind, but it’s the most complete and the rarest,” Saad told Agence France-Presse. ![]() Humam Saad, associate director of the agency’s excavation and archaeological research arm, told the Associated Press that the discovery was “rare on a global scale.” The mosaic includes depictions of the Trojan War, the Roman god Neptune and his 40 mistresses, and Hercules killing the queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta.
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