Antique Mosaics

 

While traveling around the island of Cyprus, I encountered excavations of ancient Roman settlements. The ancient mosaics of Cyprus, found in the Paphos Archaeological Park (Kato Paphos), are stunning decorations of Roman-era villas (2nd-5th centuries AD), depicting Greek mythology, hunting, and everyday life.

Today I would like to show them to you. 

Ancient mosaics adorn floors, walls, and ceilings with tiny colored stones, ranging from simple geometric patterns to complex ones. 

These mosaics display incredible detail and perspective, revealing the daily life, beliefs, and artistic mastery of the ancient Romans.

Entering one of the villas, I saw images of the owners, family, servants.  

These images resemble photographs of family members that you might have in your homes today. 

Here you can see the owner, depicted on the left in the mosaic, and three women standing to his right. The names of the family members are inscribed in mosaic above their images. 

This is apparently a guest of the house playing the lyre.

Other family members include two women, one holding a child and the other a jug.

 

 

 

 

Dionysus (on the left) is the ancient Greek god of wine, vegetation, the productive forces of nature, the youngest of the Olympian gods, also known as Bacchus.

On the floor of the villa I saw an image of two young Romans. These are Pyramus and Thisbe a legendary pair of lovers whose story bears some resemblance to Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers. The feuding parents of Thisbe and Pyramus did not permit the young couple's union, and the lovers could only speak to each other through a crack in the wall dividing their parents' property.

 

 

Elsewhere a unicorn hunt was shown. In mythology, the unicorn is a noble creature, most often a horse with a single horn, symbolizing purity, spiritual strength, and wisdom.

 

Another famous story of the love of the god Zeus for Danaë was depicted on the floor of the villa.

Zeus the Thunderer fell in love with Danaë, the daughter of King Acrisius. Since King Acrisius had been told that he would be killed by his daughter's son, he locked his daughter in a high tower so that no lover could unite with her.

Mosaics depicting nymphs dancing in honor of the gods reflected ancient Greek myths of sacrifice and mysteries associated with sea deities and fertility.

 

That day in Paphos was very hot, over 30°C. But that didn't stop me; I moved with interest from one excavation site to another, sat in an ancient Roman amphitheater with amazing acoustics, and looked at the baths and living quarters in the villas. It was a wonderful introduction to a bygone era.

Perhaps there are traces of Roman settlements near where you live, or perhaps you've also seen mosaics at excavations?