Mosaics in Britannia

This book surveys Romano-British mosaics—their craft, design, themes, and role within buildings. It highlights their literary sophistication and social significance, traces their late Roman decline, and follows their rediscovery, challenging assumptions that Britain was a cultural backwater. Mosaics in Britannia provides an authoritative overview of Romano-British mosaics, including how they were made and maintained, how the craft was organised, the geometric designs and the subject matter, source and significance of the figured pavements. Also considered is the mosaics’ place within the buildings they adorned, and what they tell us about the social dynamics of the residence and baths. The book ends with the fate of mosaics in the late Roman period and thereafter, including their recording upon rediscovery and their display. Although Romano-British pictorial mosaics seldom attain the artistic brilliance of those around the Mediterranean, they often have sophisticated content. Several demonstrate a good knowledge of classical literature, arguably more so than most other provinces, which is perhaps surprising to those who have assumed that Roman Britain was a backwater at the extreme edge of the Roman Empire.