Ancient as he was, his antiquity was that of some, featureless, eventless, an antiquity without history against the rich backdrop of his city.

A shellfish platter offers a rich backdrop for the study of great marriages of food and wine.

It seems like a fairly rich backdrop for a game like this.

If so, he could hardly have chosen a richer or more promising backdrop.

Set against this rich orchestral backdrop, of course, is the emotional tapestry Mahler created through his selection of "Wunderhorn" texts.

The young, clean cheese, perfumed with orange rind and vanilla, provides a rich backdrop to plump blueberries and juicy peaches.

Senator Strom thurmond of South Carolina, who recently turned 90, has conducted his career against a fabulously rich and complex backdrop.

But the rich backdrop to his life is the film's truest and best subject.

It's a life cycle story that has provided a rich thematic backdrop to many a work of fiction exploring the nature of humanity and society.

Indeed, few issues have such a rich ideological backdrop or high political stakes, a fact that promises to make the debate over Social Security's future particularly contentious.