The World between Empires: Art and Identity in the Ancient Middle East

For over three centuries, the territories and trading networks of the Middle East were contested between the Roman and Parthian Empires (ca. 100 B.C.–A.D. 250), yet across the region life was not defined by these two superpowers alone. Local cultural and religious traditions flourished, and sculptures, wall paintings, jewelry, and other objects reveal how ancient identities were expressed through art. Featuring 190 works from museums in the Middle East, Europe, and the United States, this exhibition follows a journey along the great incense and silk routes that connected cities in southwestern Arabia, Nabataea, Judaea, Syria, and Mesopotamia, making the region a center of global trade. Several of the archaeological sites featured, including Palmyra, Dura-Europos, and Hatra, have been damaged in recent years by deliberate destruction and looting, and the exhibition also examines these events and responses to them.

Accompanied by a catalogue and an audio guide.

#WorldBetweenEmpires

Featured Media

Conversations on the Destruction of Cultural Heritage in Iraq and Syria

Curator Talk

"Packed with surprises" —The New York Times

"Nothing short of spectacular" —The Wall Street Journal

"An outstanding array of images of the divine" —The New York Review of Books

"Dismantl[es] fundamental, reflexive ideas about the Roman world. . . . a refusal of familiar categories" —The Washington Post

"An unrivaled assembly of objects" —The New York Review of Books

The exhibition is made possible by Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman.

Additional support is provided by the Gail and Parker Gilbert Fund and the Ruddock Foundation for the Arts.

The catalogue is made possible by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.