The World Between Empires, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

This past March I had the grand opportunity to visit this exhibit curated by Blair Fowlkes-Childs and Michael Seymour, which ran from March through June 2019. The intent of the exhibit was twofold. On the one hand it provided a survey of the various cities, states, and societies that populated the Middle East between the great empires of Rome to the west and Parthia to the east (thus the title of the exhibit), ranging in date from the first century BCE to the mid-third century ce. Of particular interest was how these communities situated between dominant and domineering cultures formed their own identities through the mixture of indigenous and imported traditions, and how these identities were expressed. Thus the placard welcoming visitors to the exhibit reads: Following a journey along ancient trade routes across the Middle East, the exhibition explores how local life and culture were shaped by diverse cities and communities, and how identities were expressed through art.