Mosaic (History)
Introduction
In art history, the term Roman mosaic refers to the mosaic (from the Latin (opus) mosaĭcum, translated as "(work) relating to the Muses"[1]) characteristic of the art of ancient Rome.
When ancient Rome conquered throughout the century BC. C. the regions of Asia Minor and Greece, the mosaic was already common throughout the Greek-speaking world. The art of mosaic easily passed to the Roman world, thus beginning an artistic-industrial genre, of which they made a true specialty. It spread in such a way that it can be said that there was no Roman house or villa where there were not mosaics. At first, when the art of mosaic began to develop in Rome, it was made mainly to decorate ceilings or walls and rarely the floors because there was fear that it would not offer enough resistance to footsteps. But later, when this art reached perfection, they discovered that it could be walked on without risk and the trend of making luxury flooring began. Mosaics as pavements were for the Romans like a Persian carpet and of high quality in modern times.
The Romans built mosaics with small pieces called tesserae, which is why they were also referred to as opus tessellatum. The tesserae are pieces of more or less cubic shape, made of calcareous rocks or glass or ceramic material, very careful and elaborate and of different sizes. The artist arranged them on the surface, like a puzzle, distributing the color and shape and agglomerating them with a mass of cement.
For the Romans, mosaics were a decorative element for architectural spaces. It became an art so appreciated and widespread that in the century AD. C. the emperor Diocletian promulgated a decree in which he established the price that artists could give to their works, according to the degrees of prior qualification. When in the year 330 Emperor Constantine I moved the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire to Byzantium, he granted many facilities and favored the exodus of the Greek and Roman master mosaic makers (called mosaists). In Byzantium the art of mosaic was united with the oriental tradition and gave rise to an evolution that was distinguished above all by the very widespread use of large quantities of gold.
Technical variants
Depending on the size of the tiles, the drawings and the destination of the mosaic, the Romans gave a different name to this work: