Roman mosaic

A Roman mosaic inscribed with the Latin phrase cave canem ("beware of the dog"), from the House of the Tragic Poet in Pompeii, Italy, 2nd century BC

Mosaic with Xenia, 4th century AD, Pius Clementine museum, Vatican Museums

The earliest examples of Roman mosaic flooring date to the late Republican period (2nd century BC) and are housed in Delos, Greece. Witts claims that tessellated pavements, using tesserae, were used in Europe from the late fifth to early fourth centuries BC.[2] This is contradicted by Ruth Westgate, who contends that the earliest tessellated mosaics of the Hellenistic period date to the 3rd century BC, with the 2nd to early 1st-century BC mosaics of Delos constituting roughly half of the known examples.[3] Hetty Joyce and Katherine M. D. Dunbabin concur with this assessment, asserting that the transition from pebble mosaics to more complex tessellated mosaics originated in Hellenistic-Greek Sicily during the 3rd century BC, developed at sites such as Morgantina and Syracuse.[4][5] The earliest known pebble mosaics and use of chip pavement are found at Olynthus in Greece's Chalcidice, dated to the 5th to 4th centuries BC, while other examples can be found at Pella, capital of Macedon, dated to the 4th century BC.[6][5]

The earliest mosaics of Roman Pompeii, dated to the Pompeian First Style of wall painting in the late 2nd and early 1st centuries BC, were clearly derived from the Hellenistic Greek model.[7] However, they contained far more figured scenes on average, less abstract design, the absence of lead strips, as well as an almost complete lack of complex, three-dimensional scenes utilizing polychromy until the Pompeian Second Style of wall painting (80-20 BC).[8][7] The mosaics in the Villa Romana del Casale (c. 300 AD) from Roman Sicily perhaps represent the hallmark of mosaic art in the Late Imperial period. The mosaic decoration of the local palace complex culminates in the gallery, which contains a scene of animal hunting and fighting covering an area of 3,200 square feet (300 m²).[9]

The Alexander Mosaic from Pompeii, ca. 100 BC

Roman mosaics are constructed from geometrical blocks called tesserae,[10] placed together to create the shapes of figures, motifs and patterns.[2] Materials for tesserae were obtained from local sources of natural stone, with the additions of cut brick, tile and pottery creating coloured shades of, predominantly, blue, black, red, white and yellow.[2] Polychrome patterns were most common, but monochrome examples are known.[11] Marble and glass were occasionally used as tesserae,[12] as were small pebbles,[13] and precious metals like gold.[14] Mosaic decoration was not just confined to floors but featured on walls and vaults as well. Traces of guidelines have been found beneath some mosaics, either scored into or painted onto the mortar bedding. The design might also be pegged out in string,[2] or mounted in a wooden frame.[15]

The collapse of buildings in antiquity can, paradoxically, both irrevocably destroy mosaics or protect and preserve them.[2]

Achilles being adored by princesses of Skyros, a scene from the Iliad where Odysseus (Ulysses) discovers him dressed as a woman and hiding among the princesses at the royal court of Skyros. A late Roman mosaic from La Olmeda, Spain, 4th-5th centuries AD

As well as geometric patterns and designs, Roman mosaics frequently depicted divine characters or mythological scenes.[16][17]

• The Alexander Mosaic from the House of the Faun, Pompeii.
• The Tomb of the Julii in the Vatican Necropolis, beneath St. Peter's Basilica, Rome.
• The Gladiator Mosaic from the Via Casilina outside Rome.
• The Zliten Mosaic from Zliten in Libya.

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  Detail of Alexander Mosaic, depicting Alexander the Great, c. 100 BC, Pompeii
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  Neptune driving his chariot
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  Ulysses during his journey
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  The Centaur mosaic (2nd-century), found at Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli, Italy. Altes Museum, Berlin
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  Love scene, 1st century
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  Comedy Mask
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  Antioch Mosaic
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  Epiphany of Dionysus mosaic, from the Villa of Dionysus (2nd century AD) in Dion, Greece. Now in the Archeological Museum of Dion.
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  Judgment of Paris, marble, limestone and glass tesserae, 115–150 AD; from the Atrium House triclinium in Antioch-on-the-Orontes
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  The Zliten mosaic showing gladiators, 2nd century AD
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  A Roman mosaic depicting the wedding of Dionysos and Ariadne, with Silenus and a satyr, 2nd century AD, Tunis, Tunisia
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  A mosaic showing Medusa and representational figures of the four seasons, from Palencia, Spain, made between 167 and 200 AD
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  A Roman mosaic from Piraeus depicting Medusa, using opus tessellatum, 2nd century AD, National Archaeological Museum of Athens
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  Mosaic of female athletes playing ball at the Villa Romana del Casale of Piazza Armerina, 4th century AD
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  Late Roman mosaics at Villa Romana La Olmeda, Spain, 4th-5th centuries AD
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  Triumph of Poseidon and Amphitrite showing the couple in procession, detail of a mosaic from Cirta, Roman Africa, 315–325 AD, Louvre
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  Paleochristian mosaic from Santa Pudenziana in Rome, c. 410 AD
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  Mosaic of Orpheus from Caralis, modern Cagliari (Italy), now in Archeological Museum of Turin
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  Mosaic of Diana bathing. As-Suwayda, Syria
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  Mosaic of Amazon warrior engaged in combat with a hippeus, 4th century AD, Louvre

• Late Antique and medieval mosaics in Italy
• Lod Mosaic Archaeological Center
• Mosaics of Delos
• Proclus (mosaicist)
• Roman art

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ancient Roman mosaics.

• Mosaics of Roman Britain
• Association for the Study and Preservation of Roman Mosaics
• Discovery of Roman mosaic in Lod, Israel
• Archaeologists unearth 'little Pompeii' in southeast France