Art and Identity in the Ancient Middle East
Sculpture, paintings, jewellery and architectural elements evoke the cities that flourished in the Middle East between 100 BC and 250 AD, from the Arabian kingdoms of the south-west to Palmyra in the north. Find out more from the Met’s website.
Preview the exhibition below | View Apollo’s Art Diary here
![Funerary relief](http://www.apollo-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Family-group-1.jpg?resize=730%2C589)
Funerary relief (c. 2nd–3rd century AD), Syria, probably from Palmyra. Photo: © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
![Group of musicians (late 1st century BC), Petra.](http://www.apollo-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Group-of-Musicians-copy-3.jpg?resize=730%2C776)
Group of musicians (late 1st century BC), Petra. Photo: Department of Antiquities of Jordan
![](http://www.apollo-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Lion-with-Eros-copy-2.jpg?resize=730%2C620)
Striding Lion Ridden by Eros or Child Dionysos (early 1st century BC–mid 1st century AD), Timna. Photo: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
![Statuette of Jupiter Heliopolitanus (2nd–3rd century AD), Area of Tartus.](http://www.apollo-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Statuette-of-Jupiter-copy-3.jpg?resize=730%2C1290)
Statuette of Jupiter Heliopolitanus (2nd–3rd century AD), Area of Tartus. Photo: © Musée du Louvre, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais/Thierry Olivier/Art Resource, New York
Is investing in the past the way of the future?