Archaeologists Uncover a 2,400-Yr-Previous Skeleton Mosaic That Urges Folks to “Be Cheerful and Reside Your Life”

Picture by Dosse­man, through Wiki­me­dia Com­mons

In 2012, archae­ol­o­gists dis­cov­ered in South­ern Turkey a well-pre­served mosa­ic fea­tur­ing a skele­ton savor­ing a loaf of bread and a pitch­er of wine, sur­spherical­ed by the Greek phrases “Be cheer­ful and stay your life.” Dat­ing again to the third cen­tu­ry BCE, the mosa­ic like­ly adorned the din­ing room of a rich vil­la within the historic Gre­co-Roman metropolis of Anti­och. It’s a type of memen­to mori, a reminder that life is brief and it’s best to get pleasure from it whilst you can. Or in order that’s what number of have inter­pret­ed the mes­sage of the mosa­ic.

If you want to delve deep­er, it’s price learn­ing the analy­sis and again­floor infor­ma­tion professional­vid­ed by The His­to­ry Weblog. Imply­whereas, this sep­a­price put up on Tum­blr excessive­lights oth­er trans­la­tions and inter­pre­ta­tions of the mosaic’s key inscrip­tion.

If you want to enroll in Open Tradition’s free electronic mail newslet­ter, please discover it right here. It’s an effective way to see our new posts, all bun­dled in a single electronic mail, every day.

If you want to sup­port the mis­sion of Open Cul­ture, con­sid­er mak­ing a dona­tion to our website. It’s arduous to rely 100% on adverts, and your con­tri­bu­tions will assist us con­tin­ue professional­vid­ing the most effective free cul­tur­al and edu­ca­tion­al mate­ri­als to study­ers each­the place. You possibly can con­tribute by way of Pay­Pal, Patre­on, and Ven­mo (@openculture). Thanks!