Greko-Romen Mozaiklerinde Lotus Çiçeği veya Nelumbo Nucifera

Numerous mosaics from the Hellenistic and imperial periods with Nilotic decoration have been recorded, both in the West and in the East. Almost all of them have a vegetal decoration illustrating the flora of the Nile. Among this lush vegetation, the lotus is reproduced in various forms and it is worth studying some of these representations in detail. Some examples seem to be part of an Alexandrian tradition, but particularities may evoke the world of Pharaonic Egypt. We have endeavoured to highlight how the expression of these traditions in iconography has manifested itself as well as in the treatment of the decoration. In the first instance, we thought it would be useful to go back over a few notions of botany and the characteristics of water lilies in Egypt. Different species are very similar, which leads to multiple risks of misunderstanding when using iconographic or literary sources. In the second instance, we have tried to show how Greco-Roman mosaic artists rendered the different stages of the growth of these flowers through their art. The naturalistic aspect, very present in Hellenistic mosaics, seems to have changed during the imperial period. Does the lotus retain something of the earlier floral vision, when it adorned the pavements of the Roman provinces? In the House of the Fauna in Pompeii, the mosaic of the Battle of Alexander and Darius decorated an exedra. The threshold, delimited by two Corinthian columns, was decorated with a mosaic consisting of several panels depicting scenes of life on the Nile, dating from the end of the 2nd century BC. These have been widely described and we have only focused here on the representation of lotus flowers. The illustration seems to visually describe the different stages of the flower’s life cycle. This is, in particular, the case as regards the Barberini mosaic in Préneste. The lotus sometimes appears from the front with its petals outspread. The nelumbo then consists of several corollae, the petals of which display shades of colour ranging from dark pink to light pink. This treatment is reminiscent of the fragment from the mosaic of the Canope baths, where a large nelumbo with two corollae unfolds in a circular composition.