University of Nebraska–Lincoln School of Art, Art History & Design Professor of Art History Michael Hoff will present a lecture titled “Mosaics, Baths and Pirate Treasure: The Excavations at Antiochia ad Cragum in Asia Minor.”

The lecture is part of a series for the Lincoln-Omaha Chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America and is free and open to the public.

Since 2005, the Roman-era site of Antiochia ad Cragum has been undergoing excavation by the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The city was founded on the site of a former late Hellenistic base of the famed Cilician pirates, who preyed upon shipping in the Mediterranean. A few remnants of this pirate past have been recovered by the archaeologists. After the pirate scourge ended, the city was founded by and ally of Rome, Antiochus IV of Commagene, in the first century.

This talk explores the early history of the city, its pirate past and the extraordinary mosaics discovered at the site. In particular, this lecture will be the first forum in which the 2018 discoveries will announced, including an important new mosaic; a mythological scene found in the latrine whose figures reflect the appropriately humorous bathroom setting; and a mysterious victim of the late Roman period whose body was found in a Roman bath building. And finally, the discovery of a major coin hoard comprised of more than 3,000 mainly silver coins may be loot from another era of pirates.