This tag was created by Margaret McCracken. The last update was by Jeffrey Forgeng.
Why was the Floor Mosaic made?
Maggie McCracken, Class of 2025, College of the Holy Cross
This mosaic was part of the decoration of a private home. It brought color and design into the room, giving the residents cause to enjoy and visitors cause to admire it. This pictorial floor served as an display of wealth and symbolized eternal abundance with its vines, basket of grapes, and peacocks. It was also the flooring in that room. Imagine walking across it in bare feet with the sensation of the cold stone cooling you -- and the room -- on a warm Mediterranean day. Instead of packed dirt floors, or delicate carpets, mosaic tiles also served as a cleanable surface.
Nearly a millennium later and most of the way around the Mediterranean Sea, the Spanish Paneled Ceiling is another example of domestic architecture. Both ceilings and floors were commissioned and installed directly into a room. Also, both of these the utilize rhythmic floral motifs that appear in many locations and media around the medieval world.