Mosaics from Gamzigrad, with a special overview of the sectilia pavimenta

Abstract

The imperial complex in Gamzigrad–Romuliana had an opulent decoration program for rooms and open spaces. Some of the most sumptuous decorative elements were the mosaics and surfaces covered with luxurious marble tiles. The mosaics were mostly used to cover floors of the most representative buildings, such as Palace 1, thermae or the cross-shaped building in the southwestern corner of the fortification, and traces of them were noted in vault decorations in the mentioned objects as well. The mosaics were made in opus tessellatum and opus vermiculatum techniques. Composition patterns with a square or a circular base were used the most, and fields were organized into carpets, filled with different geometric, vegetative and figural motifs. A special group of decorative floors from the buildings of Romuliana consists of those decorated with cut marble tiles (sectilia pavimenta). The central part of the most representative room in the palatial complex – aula was decorated with this precious technique, as well as the appertaining two stibadia (triconch and tetraconch). The mosaics could be dated into the later phase of Galerius’ building activities, judging by coin findings (AD 308/309–311), while the mortar floors could possibly belong to the first building phase, or even earlier. When it comes to the thermae, it was noted that the marble and stone tiles constituted a newer floor in respect to the mosaics. The dating of this sectilia pavimenta is more uncertain, due to the fact that the thermae had been in use over a long span of time during the 4th century and later.