Elephant, Detail of the 6th century mosaic floor from the Palatium Magnum (Constantinople's Great Palace), Palace Mosaic Museum, Istanbul

The small cubes, made of glass, colored lime, or terracotta, were about 5 mm long, which means that there were about 40,000 tesserae per square meter; as the size of the mosaic is about 2,000 square meter, surrounding a large court, the grand total is a fantastic 80,000,000! Unfortunately, only some 250 square meters have been found - still sufficient for no less than 150 figures..

Although only one eighth of the mosaic has survived, we get an idea of the themes in general. There were hunting scenes, representations of animals, playing children, and bucolic landscapes (including a rare picture of a watermill). The most striking elements are the fantastic animals: there's a griffin devouring a lizzard, and a little bit further, one can see a chimaera about to be attacked by the hero Bellerophon.

None of these figures could be identified as specifically Christian. The children on the dromedary may indeed be pagan: it may be a representation of the triumphal voyage of Dionysus (and Pan?) from India. Written texts were not found, nor are there boundaries to separate the various scenes, as can be seen on contemporary mosaics like those in Theodorias.

The combination of the various elements may strike us as odd: what are those playing children doing between the hunting scenes? The fact that there are no inscriptions, suggests that to most visitors in the sixth century, the meaning was self-evident, or could be discovered without too much study.

www.livius.org/cn-cs/constantinople/constantinople_palace...

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Taken in: Turkey / İstanbul / İstanbul (show map)

Taken on: April 23, 2011

Tags:

Great Palace Mosaic Museum

Istanbul

Constantine the Great

Constantinople

Justinian « less

Sets appears in: • Palace Mosaic Museum, Constantinople's Great Palace (Palatium Magnum), Istanbul • Roman Mosaics

Camera: Olympus SP800UZ, f/3.6, 1/8 sec, 10mm, ISO 250 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Olympus SP800UZ
Aperture:	f/3.6
Exposure Time:	0.125 sec (1/8)
Focal Length:	10mm
ISO:	250
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Creative (Slow speed)
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Gain Control:	High gain up
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	picnik.com
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