Ancient World

Greco-Georgian mosaic of Mount Zion

The Greco-Georgian mosaic of Mount Zion (Georgian: სიონის მთის ბერძნულ-ქართული მოზაიკა, romanized: sionis mtis berdznul-kartuli mozaik'a) is a bilingual mosaic, in Ancient Greek and Old Georgian, inscriptions written in Greek and Georgian Asomtavruli scripts, found during 2020–2021 archaeological excavation on the southern part of Mount Zion in Jerusalem. The partially preserved bilingual mosaic inscription was set in a rectangular tabula ansata, where the frame and the dividing lines between the four lines of the inscriptions were made of red tesserae on a white background. The Greek and Georgian letters were executed in black tesserae. The mosaic was set in a bed of light gray mortar on a thin layer of compacted earth on bedrock. The mosaic is dated terminus post quem, no earlier than the fifth century. An archaeological site and location of an excavated mosaic is identified as the "Monastery of the Iberians" built by Peter the Iberian, supported by the Byzantine written sources including Life of Peter the Iberian by John Rufus and De aedificiis of Justinian by Procopius of Caesarea.

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See also

• ▸Finnish Institute at Athens
• ▸Ewen Spencer
• ▸Archaeological looting

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