Opus Alexandrinum Mosaic in the University of Pennsylvania Museum, November 2009

Opus Alexandrinum Mosaic
Rome
4th century AD

# MS 4014

This flooring is made up of thin squares of red and green porphyry and slivers of white marble set to create a roughly checkerboard effect. This technique is called Opus Alexandrinum.

Text from the U. Penn. Museum label.

and

Mosaic Flooring

Mosaic flooring, the decorative equivalent of carpeting, was in near universal use throughout the Roman Empire. The Romans took the concept from the Greeks who made mosaics of carefully selected natural pebbles. In the 3rd- 2nd centuries BC this art form was modified through the use of tesserae- stones, glass, or glazed terracotta cubes cut to uniform sizes. Tessellated mosaics became the norm in the Roman period.

The fragments shown here illustrate several techniques of Roman mosaic.

Text from the U. Penn. Museum wall plaque.