Mosaics of Fishbourne Roman Palace - Paperback

by Derrick Napier (Author)

The art of mosaic construction seems to have spread through the Hellenistic world and was brought to Italy by Greek craftsmen. Consequently the Romans carried the art further afield as their empire expanded and eventually to England. In England the first mosaic floors were laid in the 1st Century AD and it was only in the later mosaic floors, laid between 150-360 AD, that Greek/Roman mythology was noticed in the Romano-British villas. Because of this timeline there is an absence of any Celtic myths, although I feel that within these mosaic floors there are decorative motifs that appear to derive from pre-Roman tradition and could be credited to the Celts. The Celts had been around for many hundreds of years and they inhabited the spirit of the landscape, which include fertility, the seasons of the year, flowers, healing and life-giving water. We see nothing until we understand it. So join me in this journey of discovery.