![]() ![]() But what makes the mosaics so special is that their subject matter is both familiar and yet also very odd. Several of the creatures appear to have smiles on their faces, even though they are often engaged in ferocious life-and-death struggles. The Lod mosaic panels display much charm with their brightly coloured figures and lively scenes. The result is a surprisingly naturalistic trompe l'oeil effect, unexpected in this medium. Another feature of mosaics is that shapes and scenes are created not out of painted or carved lines but by the painstaking arrangement of individual tiles, or tesserae. As a result, figures can be depicted as floating against a minimal background, which is ideal for heavenly divinities or sea creatures. Viewers in antiquity were encouraged to walk around and, indeed, over a mosaic to see scenes orientated in various directions. ![]() Surprisingly naturalistic … the marine panel Photograph: Photograph: Nicky Davidov/Israel Antiquities Authority Fish and dolphins are shown swimming in a transparent sea, accompanied by shells and two large merchant ships facing in opposite directions, one shown with billowing sails, the other with its mast and sails lowered. One adjoining panel of animal scenes clearly echoes the design and subject matter of the main panel, but the other is completely filled with a lively marine scene. These surround a larger octagonal space populated by ferocious wild animals – a lion and lioness, an elephant, a giraffe, a rhinoceros, a tiger, and a wild bull – with a mountainous landscape flanking a ketos, a mythical sea creature. The main panel of the largest mosaic is divided into a series of smaller squares and triangles in which various birds, fish and animals are depicted. However, it is attractive to speculate that the series of large rooms, sumptuously decorated with mosaics and probably intended for receptions and meetings, was constructed in the early third century AD, as a result of Lod's increased wealth and status after the city was promoted to the rank of Roman colony by the emperor Septimus Severus (r AD 193–211). Little survived of the architecture of the building that housed the mosaics, so it has proved difficult to identify its use and, indeed, its date. More recently, between 19, Lod was home to RAF Lydda, which later formed the nucleus of Ben Gurion airport. Refounded by Hadrian as Diospolis, it remained in Roman hands until becoming a Christian city and eventually succumbing to Arab conquerors in AD636. Lod is ancient Lydda, destroyed twice by the Romans, first during the Jewish war in AD66, then during the Jewish revolt in the last years of Trajan's reign (AD98-117). Next month it will be on show at Waddesdon Manor, in collaboration with the British Museum, in its only UK exhibition before travelling to St Petersburg and then back to the Shelby White and Leon Levy Lod Mosaic Archaeological Centre. Since 2012, while a permanent home for the mosaics was built in Israel, the collection has been displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York as well as the Louvre in Paris and the Altes Museum in Berlin. It is highly unusual that such details of the construction process are preserved, and it is to the credit of the Israeli team that they not only documented the markings in situ, but also lifted them so that they can be exhibited alongside the mosaics. ![]() It wasn't until 2009 that they were carefully lifted and conserved by specialists from the Israel Antiquities Authority, revealing fascinating details about the way they were laid that included impressions of the feet and hands of the original craftsmen left in the wet mortar. The Lod mosaics were of such exceptional quality, and in such an excellent state of preservation, that it was decided, wisely, to rebury them until a plan had been formulated to secure their long-term future. Although some of the animals appear to be tearing each other apart, they share seraphic, although slightly sinister, expressions, which one historian went so far as to describe as "erotic". Dating from around AD300, the mosaics are a riot of birds, shells, fishes and animals and include one of the earliest known images of both a rhinoceros and a giraffe. Among the most significant is that of a series of Roman mosaic floors at Lod in Israel, almost the centre of interaction between Roman, Christian, Jewish and Muslim culture, accidentally uncovered during road construction in 1996. The pace of construction of new buildings, roads, and infrastructure throughout the world has led to a number of spectacular archaeological finds in recent years. ![]()
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