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Fragment of floor mosaic depicting stars and squares

Fragment of floor mosaic depicting stars and squares

201-300

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Fragment of floor mosaic depicting stars and squares

Fragment of floor mosaic depicting stars and squares

Fragment of floor mosaic depicting stars and squares

201-300

Physical Qualities Stone and lime mortar, 162 x 56-1/2 in. (411.6 x 143.5 cm.); weight: 3149.55 lbs.
Credit Line Antioch Subscription Fund
Object Number 1937.146
Knots and eyes appear as a repeating motif within a complex pattern of stars, squares, and rectangles. These designs were meant to entrap and deflect the evil eye, a form of envy that could cause misfortune. Roman and Byzantine patrons often worked protective devices into thresholds, in the same way that they used imagery of nature’s bounty to bring prosperity and good fortune.
"Antioch-on-the Orontes, II, The Excavations, 1932-1936," Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1938, no. 83, p. 195, pl. 59.
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