Mosaic Pavements in Thrace in the 6th century

This article analyses the roles and significance of floor mosaics decorating public and private buildings in 6th century Thrace. The former includes religious buildings such as Christian basilicas, catholicons in monasteries, baptisteries, and martyria and the reception halls of the domus, and the Episcopeion, which, given its function, ranks between the two groups. This study not only reveals the importance of mosaic flooring in the decoration of various parts of buildings but also suggests that it was still used as a prominent carrier of messages, especially concerning self-representation. In religious buildings, mosaics undeniably highlight the relationship between decoration, liturgical rites, and architecture, which by this time had already acquired a complete form in Constantinople and had come to have a direct influence on Thrace. Christianity played a vital role in the development of mosaic art in the region, although other ideas crept through the Christian framework in which mosaic floor art developed in Thrace in this century.