Crete and Cyrenaica: One Province, Two Mosaic Productions
Following the publication of the exhaustive book by Rebecca Sweetman on the mosaics of Crete it is now possible to
conduct a comparative study between mosaic production of Crete and Cyrenaica.
These two territories formed a single
Roman province for a long time, however, despite the political and administrative link, they had two different mosaic
production traditions, mostly independent from each other. The production of Cyrenaica is larger and richer and could
indicate a higher standard of living, perhaps connected with the massive urban improvements and developments promoted by the central power after the Jewish revolt and the Septimius Severus’s rise to power.
Parole chiave / Keywords
Cirenaica, Creta, mosaici, opus sectile, tessellatum
Cyrenaica, Crete, mosaics, opus sectile, tessellatum
