Analysis
Imperial Rome
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Document
Sailboat on a mosaic of Qasr Libya church (1)
8 January 2019 | by
mosaïque | Second quarter of VIe century AD
Libye ( Libye )
This late mosaic shows that the construction of a church helps to maintain the know-how of the craftsmen for the realization of mosaic floors. The symbolic theme of the boat is frequently used in this type of Christian sites.
The Qasr Libya Museum (the ancient Olbia - Theodorias) houses the superb collection of mosaics taken from the floor of the nearby, Byzantine, Eastern Church. These Byzantine mosaics of the Eastern Basilica, laid between 539 and 540 AD, were discovered by Libyan dam workers in 1957.
50 mosaic panels, each measuring half a metre square, are displayed in groups of five on the walls, with informative labels in both Arabic and English.
The merchant ship is implemented by 2 sailors. The sail is deployed. The helmsman is at the rudder while a sailor probes at the bow. We distinguish the guys now the mat.
Another mosaic constituting a ground is also a ship . On another panel of this mosaic series we see a mermaid carrying a rudder .
