Roman Floor Mosaics

Mosaic floors were a statement of wealth and importance.

Roman floor mosaics.

300 400 roman from near baiae italy. A roman mosaic floor has been discovered under a vineyard in northern italy after decades of searching. A roman mosaic is a mosaic made during the roman period throughout the roman republic and later empire mosaics were used in a variety of private and public buildings. Stone tesserae 51 68 1 2 34 1 2 58 in.

Roman bacchus floor mosaic by mark cartwright cc by nc sa as mosaics evolved in the 2nd century bce smaller and more precisely cut tesserae were used sometimes as small as 4 mm or less and designs employed a wide spectrum of colours with coloured grouting to match surrounding tesserae. Archaeologists were astonished by the find as it came almost a century after the. Each mosaic used thousands of pieces to make a pattern. A remarkably well preserved mosaic floor has been discovered by archaeologists beneath a vineyard in northern italy.

Detail of a corner panel from mosaic floor with a bear hunt a d. In the portico delle corporazioni ostia italy. Roman monochrome floor mosaic 3rd century ad. Mosaics were commonly used for floor and wall decoration in the ancient roman world and were made from small cubes of stone or glass enamel of varying colors known as tesserae.

A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone glass or ceramic held in place by plaster mortar and covering a surface. Many mosaics captured scenes of history and everyday roman life. Mosaic today includes not just murals and pavements but also artwork hobby crafts and industrial and construction. Mosaics offer a vivid picture of ancient roman life.

Design perfectly preserved ancient roman mosaic floor discovered in italy. Scala art resource new york the expressionist roman style which flourished in italy penetrated into the former greek cities in the eastern part of the empire but polychromy and types of composition based on the framed picture persisted with especial tenacity due to strong local hellenistic. A perfectly preserved ancient roman mosaic floor has been discovered near the northern italian city of verona. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration and were particularly popular in the ancient roman world.

Rich romans decorated the floors of their main rooms with mosaics.