It’s believed that the mosaic was created at some point between AD 325 and 350. This was the time when the city of Constantinople was being founded.
At the centre is an image of a red rooster along with fruit. The rooster is surrounded by a vine scroll. A Greek inscription is at centre and reads: (mosaic) was completed on April 15 in the Indiction year 10 in the year 104. There is a geometric pattern surrounding these motifs. On the right side of the mosaic there is a very complex pattern.
The mosaic will be featured in the new Byzantine gallery, opening in 2011, at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada.
The galleries will be completed some time in 2011. For now I thought I would show a picture of a key artefact that will be featured in the Byzantine Gallery. It’s a mosaic that dates to the time when the city of Constantinople was being founded (AD 325-350).
Submitted by Jon Cannon on Wed, 12/09/2009 - 11:28
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It is impossible to imagine European art without the procession of Crucifixions and Madonnas, Baptisms of Christ and Christs in Majesty that have been produced over the centuries; nor to imagine a European city without at least one building that testifies to the overawing power and wealth of the medieval church: a Durham or Cologne cathedral, a Hagia Sophia. Western art and Christianity go hand in hand.
So it comes as a shock to discover that there is another Christian art; one that took almost two centuries to get going (no securely dated Christian art predates 200CE); one which did not create architecture – it had no churches, as we would understand them – and in which the imagery is altogether unfamiliar. A world in which Christianity is delicate, humane, created by relatively marginal communities practising a new faith. A world in which Jonah and the Whale and the Good Shepherd are central images; a world, indeed, from which barely a single definite example of a Madonna or a Crucifixion has survived.
As many as 21 Roman villas are known in south Wales, but until now archaeologists didn't believe that the Romans had built villa-sized dwellings as far north as Aberystwyth, in Ceredigion.
Submitted by Bija Knowles on Tue, 10/06/2009 - 16:43
UNESCO describes Leptis Magna as “one of the most beautiful cities of the Roman Empire”. The ruins of the city, about 70 miles east of Tripoli on Libya's Mediterranean coast, were declared a World Heritage Site in 1982. In the past decade more discoveries have been made at the site – including some of the most impressive artistic Roman mosaics to have been found anywhere in the empire.
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I have examined hundreds of mosaics across the Roman Empire, but I have never seen such a vibrantly realistic depiction of a human.
Submitted by Bija Knowles on Mon, 08/10/2009 - 12:04
A luxurious villa dating from the time of the emperor Titus Flavius Vespasian has been uncovered in the Sabine countryside about 100km north east of Rome. The size, opulence and date of the villa are very strong indications that it is in the fact the villa of Vespasian himself, who is known to have owned a summer residence in the area near Cittareale, north east of the provincial town of Rieti (also a Roman town).
As this blog is being written a Canadian team is renewing excavations at the site of Madaba, a modern day Jordanian city that has at least 5,000 years of history behind it.
The city is well known for its Byzantine mosaics including the 6th century AD 'Madaba Map', which is considered to be the oldest known map of the holy land.
The Canadian excavations are led by Dr. Debra Foran and Professor Tim Harrison, both of the University of Toronto. They have been taking place, off and on, for more than a decade. The theme of prosperity and collapse runs through the city’s history, as it does with many sites in the Middle East.
Almost two thousand years ago, the stunning Kentish town we now know as Canterbury was an important Roman trading post called Durovernum Cantiacorum. Its prosperity and reputation as a place of worship - a name it retains to this day - meant it was one of the more opulent towns of the south east of Britannia. However, when the Romans left in 410 AD it was desperately defended by groups of mercenaries, and sacked by the invading Anglo-Saxons not far into the 5th century AD. Yet Durovernum's Roman glory still survives beneath its modern descendent, and can be seen with a trip to the Canterbury Roman Museum. Its exciting layout is underground at the level of Canterbury's Roman forebear, and includes a number of authentic artefacts and displays, as well as reconstructions and interactive activities.
Visitors can marvel at massive mosaics, and look at the streets of Durovernum in a great state of repair. There is also a grand reconstruction of a Roman market, resplendent with resident shoe maker, fruit and veg counter and fabric seller. There's even a faithful reproduction of a house and its kitchen. Guests can also get involved in amateur archaeology as they guess the ancient object, and a computer-based activity focuses on Roman technology.
Norton Priory Museum, in Tudor Road, Manor Park, Runcorn, is running this hands-on event where visitors can help build a life-sized knight with mosaic tiles. Part of the Festival of British Archaeology 2009.
Submitted by Bija Knowles on Sun, 07/05/2009 - 22:36
This weekend a Roman-era fourth century mosaic in the Israeli city of Lod, or Lydda, about 20 km south-east of Tel Aviv, will be on view to the public for only the second time since its discovery. The Lod mosaic, dating back 1700 years, is being uncovered and prepared for restoration. It is described as “one of the most magnificent and largest mosaics ever revealed in Israel” by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), the government agency responsible for its conservation.
For those who can't make it to Lod in person for 11-12 July, it will also be possible to see a live video stream of the mosaic here.
Planners and construction workers are hard at work building new 
Historians and archaeologists are having to rethink the 
A luxurious villa dating from the time of the emperor 
This weekend a Roman-era fourth century mosaic in the Israeli city of 
