Byzantine mosaics

Byzantine Mosaics are mosaics of Berytus, that actually are located in Beirut, Lebanon and can be seen in the "Beirut National Museum".

Overview

In Byzantine times, the floors of shops and houses in the Souks area were laid with mosaic pavements. The excavations of the mid-1990s revealed around seven hundred square meters of 5th and 6th century AD mosaics just south of the port area of Beirut.

Construction

In Roman and Byzantine times, the floors of shops and houses in the area of the Souks of ancient Beirut were laid with mosaic pavements. The colonnades had mosaic pavements with Greek letters marking the address of each shop. Most mosaics displayed geometric patterns, although a few incorporated figurative designs.

History

In Byzantine times, the floors of shops and houses in the area of the Souks were laid with beautiful mosaic pavements. The archaeological excavations of 1996 unearthed some seven hundred square meters of mosaics, most of them dating back to the 5th and 6th centuries AD (someone even to the fourth century, when Berytus was a Roman empire city). They were recovered from five large villas and a colonnaded street with its shops. The colonnades had mosaic pavements with Greek letters marking the address of each shop. Most mosaics displayed geometric patterns, although a few incorporated figurative designs.

One panel found in the shop, designated with the letter Epsilon, depicts a roaring lion. The mosaic lay at the entrance of the shop, most likely to provide protection. A mosaic in a house behind the colonnaded street depicted the mythical scene of Leda and the Swan.

A panel discovered in another house carried a moral message: “Envy is the worst of all evils; there is only one good in it, it eats at the heart and eyes of the beholder.” Recording, cleaning, lifting and storing the large number of mosaics was carried out with great care.

This (Jealousy) mosaïc decorated the entrance of a rich house located at the heart of Byzantine Beirut. The purpose of the inscription, "Envy is an evil; it has beauty however/ it eats out the eyes and the heart of the envious", was to protect the inhabitants against envy and evil. Beirut National Museum: Collections ^[1]

Today the ‘Jealousy Mosaic’ can be viewed in Beirut’s National Museum, while some 250 panels of mosaic fragments are kept in storage.

Timeline

1996: Discovery of 700 sqm of mosaics in the Souks area of Beirut, most dating back to the 5th and 6th centuries A.D.

Notes

^ Collection Mosaics of Byzantine period

Bibliography

Garreau, Sophie and Curvers, Hans H. (2003) "Mosaïques de Berytus : Analyses stylistiques et chronologie", Bulletin d’Archéologie et d’Architecture Libanaises 7: 281-320.
Sheehan, Peter. “Mosaics from BEY 006: an introductory catalogue”, Berytus, vol. 43:147-166

[1] Collection Mosaics of Byzantine period

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