Step-by-Step: The Non-Figural Mosaics of Late Antique Cyprus Jane Chick (University of East Anglia, UK)
MENTION CYPRIOT MOSAICS and the magnificent figural panels from Paphos or the beautifully executed pavements from Kourion will almost certainly spring to mind. These well-known pavements are widely admired and have, quite deservedly, received a great deal of scholarly attention. There is, however, another category of mosaics on the island that has largely been ignored, namely, the geometric and abstract mosaics that carpet many of the Late Antique basilicas and baptisteries. There is a tendency, and not just on Cyprus, to treat nonfigural mosaics as secondary works; often abandoned to the elements, they are, at worst ignored altogether, at best recorded and compared to similar pavements from other parts of the Mediterranean. These productions, rarely considered worthy of interpretation, are generally dismissed as practical, albeit decorative, floor coverings—something to walk on like fitted carpets in modern houses. By way of redress this chapter focuses mainly on pavements from four Cypriot ecclesiastical complexes, all dated between the late fourth and mid-sixth centuries: Agias Trias on the Karpas Peninsula, Agios Georgios at Pegeia, the basilica of Chrysopolitissa at Paphos and the basilica at Soloi on the gulf of Morphou (Figure 1). The first part of the chapter argues that many of the individual components from these floors were imbued with meanings which, although not immediately obvious today, would have been readily understood by Late Antique spectators. The second part considers the larger picture, suggesting a
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