Stunning Byzantine Mosaic Uncovered in Israel

LiveScience ^ | May 13, 2013 | Jeanna Bryner

[EveningStar]

Archaeologists have uncovered an "extraordinary" mosaic that would've been used as the floor of a public building during the Byzantine Period in what is today Israel, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced.

[EveningStar]

ping

[afraidfortherepublic]

Gorgeous!

[afraidfortherepublic]

This reminds me of Celtic illumination, as in the Book of Kells.

[madison10]

Wow! You are right, it DOES look Celtic.

[Defiant]

Maybe Celts from Gallatia made it.

[dangus]

Careful, you’re going to piss off a lot of neo-pagans if you suggest that the antecedents for such art stylings was from known Christian sources, rather than imagined pagan sources.

[massgopguy]

The Celtics play on a Parquet Floor. Not tile.

[Cyman]

LOL!

[Joe 6-pack]

Ping!

[Forward the Light Brigade]

Those Byzantines made some beautiful things. Mosaics were something they excelled at. I pray for the day when Hagia Sopiah is a church again and the people of Turkey turn from Mohamed and once again embrace a forgiving Christ. Someday—Istanbul will be Constantinople again! I never thought that Leningrad would go back to St. Petersburg, and Russia would return to the Religion of Christ. Change can happen.

[Arthalion]

You are right, it DOES look Celtic.

That's not really anything to be shocked about. There are a number of common traits shared between Roman and proto-Celtic societies. Not only did both cultures exist in close proximity (and trade) for more than 2,000 years, but Rome later conquered much of the Celtic world, absorbing both its people and their cultural heritage into their own. Rome even had several emperors of Celtic birth and heritage.

The connections actually go even further than that though. Both the Romans and the proto-Celts originated from the same PIE/aryan migrations that populated much of Europe. They diverged quite a bit over the millennia, but both languages and cultures originated from the same root and cultural practices.

By the late Byzantine when this floor was made, Celtic influences could be seen everywhere in Roman design and architecture.

[stormer]

Celts originated in central Turkey.

[teeman8r]

PARKAY.

(not butter)

[ckilmer]

Careful, you’re going to piss off a lot of neo-pagans if you suggest that the antecedents for such art stylings was from known Christian sources, rather than imagined pagan sources.
..............
The turkish galatians moved from austria in the 3rd century bc. before their removal to turkey they practiced human sacrifice.

I don’t know if they were still practicing human sacrifice in turkey when the first christian evangelists arrived in the 1st century ad.

Maybe not. the romans practiced human sacrifice as late as the punic wars but by the 1st century ad —as far as I know —they were not doing so.

but anyone can contradict me on that if they know better.

[dangus]

Like.

[dangus]

Well, everyone has pagan roots, but neo-paganism is particularly concerned with British Traditional Witchcraft and its imagined Celtic origins.

[dangus]

True. We think of Ireland when we think of the Celts, but their Capital was once Salzburg, in the heart of the Roman Empire.

[SunkenCiv]

GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach	join list or digest view topics view or post blog bookmark post a topic subscribe
Thanks EveningStar and Joe 6-pack. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.

[Monkey Face]

Beautiful! Thanks!