Mosaics
The mosaicists, whose work can be seen in so many buildings in Ostia, are seen once. From Ostia comes a marble, funerary relief on which we see them making the little mosaic stones, the tesserae. Two men are sitting opposite each other on low stools. In one hand they hold a small object on an anvil, in the other a special hammer. Two men behind them carry a heavy sack on their shoulder. A fifth man makes a demonstrating gesture. Most of the white tesserae in Ostia are of limestone. Marble tesserae were sometimes used in the late third and in the fourth century. The black tesserae were made of flint.
Funerary relief (slab to close off a loculus?) showing mosaicists preparing tesserae. Width 0.23, height 0.36.
From the collection in the Episcopium in modern Ostia Antica. Zimmer 1982, cat. nr. 81. Amedick 1991, cat. nr. 89. Photo: Tonino Menghi.
Detail of the relief.
Photo: Parco Archeologico di Ostia Antica.