An exceptionally well-preserved Roman floor mosaic showing a rich variety of fish, animals, birds and ships has returned to the site where it was first discovered in a Tel Aviv suburb after a visit a decade of some of the best museums in the world.
The 1,700-year-old mosaic from the late Roman period was discovered in 1996 during highway construction work, but was not put on display until 2009 when sufficient funds to preserve it were secured. given.
The colorful mosaic, 55 feet long (17 meters) and about 29 feet wide (9 meters) may have served as the entrance hall of a mansion in a wealthy neighborhood of Lod, near what is now Tel Aviv, the Israel Antiquities Authority said in a statement.
“The owner was probably a very wealthy merchant because he traveled around the world and he saw things, like all the ships and the fish on display in the mosaic,” said archaeologist Hagit Torge from the Antiquities Authority. of Israel.
The mosaic design was influenced by North African mosaics and has no depictions of people, suggesting it could have belonged to a Christian or a Jew who wanted to avoid pagan attributes such as depictions of Roman gods , said archaeologist Amir Gorzalczany of Israel Antiquities. Authority.
The mosaic will now be displayed in an archaeological center built where it was found, in Lod.
Top image caption: Workers clean a restored Roman-era mosaic after it was displayed at its original site in Lod, now an Israeli city where an archaeological center was opened on 27 June 2022. Reuters/Amir Cohen
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