Mosaic of Lod

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Archaeologists treating the mosaic (1996)
Detail view

The Lod mosaic is the largest of its kind in Israel, measuring 180 square meters . It was discovered in 1996 while the road was being built in Lod , ancient Lydda , southeast of Tel Aviv , and after the excavation was preserved with a layer of sand. In 2009 it was uncovered again, rolled up and brought to the laboratories of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) for restoration. Its dating to the third century was based on the most recent coin found in the mosaic, which was minted under Diocletian (284–305).

The mosaic does not contain an inscription mentioning the donor, as would be typical of mosaics in public buildings. Therefore it seems to have belonged to a shipowner's or trader's villa. Fish, wild animals and two merchant ships can be seen on the mosaic. In the central medallion animals are depicted and not the typical Ophelius or Bacchus , as in pagan mosaics. The owner could have been a Jew or a Christian. For the excavator Miriam Avissar, an archaeologist who emigrated from Hamburg to Israel in 1965, the late Roman mosaic is a work of Sicilian style .

A separate museum for the mosaic, the Shelby White and Leon Levy Lod Mosaic Archaeological Center , is being built in Lod and is due to open in 2013. Since September 2010, the mosaic has been exhibited in some cities in the USA and Europe (Paris, Berlin, Waddesdon). The exhibition in Berlin was entitled Hunters and Hunted. The exotic fauna of the Roman mosaic from Lod .

literature

  • Miriam Avissar: Lod - A Mosaic Floor. In: Excavations and Surveys in Israel 17 (1998) pp. 169-172.
  • Asher Ovadiah, Sonia Mucznik: Classical Heritage and Anti-Classical Trends in the Mosaic Pavement of Lydda (Lod). In: Assaph. Studies in Art History 3 (1998) pp. 1-16.
  • E. Haddad, Miriam Avissar: A Suggested Reconstruction of one of the Merchant Ships on the Mosaic Floor in Lod (Lydda) Israel. In: The International Journal of Nautical Archeology 32 (2003) pp. 73-77.
  • Z. Friedman: The Ships Depicted in the Lod Mosaic Reconsidered. In: The International Journal of Nautical Archeology 33 (2004) pp. 164-168.
  • R. Piovanesi, L. Maritan, J. Neguer: The polychrome sinopia of Roman mosaic at Lod (Israel): Pigments characterization and microstratigraphic study In: Progress of Cultural Heritage Preservation - EUROMED 2012, Cyprus (2014) pp. 203-208.

Web links

Commons : Mosaic of Lod  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Exhibition plan ( Memento of the original from April 9, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lodmosaic.org
  2. ↑ No peace between fish and snake in FAZ of October 18, 2013, page 41