Mosaics in Britannia provides an authoritative overview of Romano-British mosaics, including how they were made and maintained, how the craft was organised, the geometric designs and the subject matter, source and significance of the figured pavements. Also considered is the mosaics place within the buildings they adorned, and what they tell us about the social dynamics of the residence and baths. The book ends with the fate of mosaics in the late Roman period and thereafter, including their recording upon rediscovery and their display. Although Romano-British pictorial mosaics seldom attain the artistic brilliance of those around the Mediterranean, they often have sophisticated content. Several demonstrate a good knowledge of classical literature, arguably more so than most other provinces, which is perhaps surprising to those who have assumed that Roman Britain was a backwater at the extreme edge of the Roman Empire.
List of Figures
Authors note
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Manufacture
Chapter Three: Schemes, patterns and motifs
Chapter Four: First- to third-century mosaics
Chapter Five: Fourth-century Groups
Chapter Six: Figured mosaics
Chapter Seven: Mythological stories and literature
Chapter Eight: Sports and leisure
Chapter Nine: Paganism, Christianity and superstition
Chapter Ten: Mosaics in principal rooms
Chapter Eleven: Baths and the Porticus
Chapter Twelve: Mosaics in aisled buildings
Chapter Thirteen: Maintenance, repair and alterations
Chapter Fourteen: Mosaics and the end of Roman Britain
Chapter Fifteen: How mosaics were recorded
Chapter Sixteen: Mosaics on display
Bibliography
Index
Stephen R. Cosh DLitt FSA is an independent archaeological writer and illustrator specialising in the Roman period. He worked for over thirty-five years with his colleague, David S. Neal, on the research, production and publication of the five-volume corpus of Romano-British mosaics, completed in 2024. He has contributed specialist reports on the mosaics from several sites, including Chedworth, Low Ham, Dewlish and Colliton Park, Dorchester, and the building report for the large villa complex at Eccles, Kent. He has also written articles on a variety of archaeological aspects of Roman Britain in addition to those concerning mosaics, appearing in the proceedings of several county archaeological societies, Britannia, Antiquaries Journal, Mosaic, the Association for Roman Archaeology (ARA) publications, among others. For many years he was secretary, editor and later vice-chairman of ASPROM (the Association for the Study and Preservation of Roman Mosaics).
