Roman mosaic

[2] Perhaps the earliest examples of Greco-Roman mosaic floors date to the late Republican period (2nd century BC) and are from Delos, Greece.

[7][6] 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.

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).

[10] Roman mosaics are constructed from geometrical blocks called tesserae,[11] placed together to create the shapes of figures, motifs and patterns.

[3] 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.

[3] Roman mosaics frequently depicted religious figures, theatrical scenes, mythological stories, geometric labyrinth patterns, and other decorative designs.

The experience of walking along the labyrinth pattern would have likely heightened the senses, as the participants would be acutely aware of their feet along the mosaic on the floor.

[10] Orpheus mosaics, which often include many animals drawn by the god's playing, are very common; he was also used in Early Christian art as a symbol for Christ.

As the Roman period merged into Late Antiquity, wall mosaics became the dominant form of art in grand churches, and the gold-ground style became usual.

The word emblem is used to describe a small mosaic featuring a little genre scene or still life, characterised by particularly thin tesserae made separately and mounted in a central or important position in the main panel.

The mosaic showed mythical scenes including portraying the Roman sea god Neptune and 40 of his mistresses, as well as Hercules slaying the Amazon queen Hippolyta.