The Mosaics of Roman Crete

This book examines the rich corpus of mosaics created in Crete during the Roman and Late Antique eras. It provides essential information on the style, iconography and chronology of the material, as well as discussion of the craftspeople who created them and the technologies they used. The contextualized mosaic evidence also reveals a new understanding of Roman and Late Antique Crete. It helps shed light on the processes by which Crete became part of the Roman Empire, its subsequent Christianization and the pivotal role the island played in the Mediterranean network of societies during these periods. This book provides an original approach to the study of mosaics and an innovative method of presenting a diachronic view of provincial Cretan society.

• Presents for the first time a catalogue of Roman and Late Antique mosaics of Crete
• Shows how it is possible to apply the evidence of mosaics within their archaeological contexts to make a significant contribution to understanding the nature of society in Roman and Late Antique Crete and the role it played in the Empire
• New synthesis of all the known Roman and Late Antique archaeological material brought to light in recent years