A discovery of a mosaic entails a series of information regarding the period of production; it gives us understanding on how people used to dress, where they would live, how their cultural interactions would be, and the economic circumstance they would be in.

Floor mosaics are symbols of status, wealth, splendour, hence power. During the Roman Period, they adorned the floors of houses, villas, public baths, fountains, and pools. The figures and icons chosen from the artist’s catalogue would often match the narratives depicted by its contemporaries.

A recent excavation, taking place in the province of Osmaniye in the Eastern Mediterranean has revealed another great example of Roman mosaics in Anatolia, sharing a similar tradition with its peers unearthed in Zeugma, Antakya, and Ephesus.

The last Roman city founded in the Cilicia Pedias region after Vespasian took power in 73 AD was Flaviopolis, named possibly after Flaviens, the family of whom Vespasian was a member.

According to the accounts from the late 19th century, the ancient settlement of Flaviopolis was visible by eye then, where one account depicting the walls of the city stretching along the Savrun River, whereas the second describing the remains from the city Forum being utilized in local house constructions. This is no surprise, since until the second half of the 19th century, the area was virtually vacant; however, when the military intervention for the settlement of nomads in the second half of the 19th century was carried through, the area was quickly populated and urbanized.

There are three historical moments in which the first glances into the history of the ancient settlement were made. First, with an inspection during the construction of a cesspool revealing a 2-meter Bronze Bust of Hadrian in 1932. Second, as one of the most important mosques converted from a Roman Church built in the Late Antiquity in Anatolia, Ala Mosque is still preserved, the brief excavations in 1947 and 1961 unravel some mosaics under the mosque complex. And the last one is thanks to the probing activities carried out by the Osmaniye Museum in 2015 close to an area to Ala Mosque. In as small space as 100 square meters confirms the existence of the ancient settlements of Flaviopolis, which is now almost completely under the modern dwellings.

Archaelogical excavations on site revealed some of the most remarkable findings. Foremost among these are the three large mosaics of mythological stories and scenes from the wild life and nature: Passage of Nereids and Cassiopeia and Tritons, Seasons and Animals, and the Lion Hunt of Aeneas and Dido.

In the excavated site, you step into a Roman villa. The water infrastructure, the clay pipelines that carry water to the villa, a courtyard (atrium) where an ornamental fountain is situated (impluvium), a large hall for festivities (triclinium), and rooms for fireplaces, studios, and a little public toilet (latrina) are all visible on account of the work done by the Osmaniye Museum. 

What dazzles one upon seeing the mosaics is the quality of the workmanship; built with a realist style and painted with a large range of colours, the mosaics are placed in an order in the courtyard following a path into the large hall.