Floor Mosaic Depicting the Cities of Memphis and Alexandria
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.This mosaic from a church floor in the affluent city of Gerasa (modern Jerash) depicts two major Egyptian cities identified in Greek as Alexandria (left) and Memphis (right), sites on the trade routes that made the Byzantine Empire’s southern provinces wealthy. The inscription identifies the donor as "my bishop . . . Anastasios" and describes the church as "adorned . . . with silver and beautifully colored stones." The motifs—cityscapes, trees, vase with vines, and inscription—were popular throughout the Byzantine Empire and transitioned into the arts of the emerging Islamic world.
Artwork Details
- Title: Floor Mosaic Depicting the Cities of Memphis and Alexandria
- Date: ca. 540
- Geography: Made in Jordan, excavated Church of Saints Peter & Paul, Gerasa
- Medium: Limestone in ivory, dark ocher, beige, light gray, dark gray, and shades of red
- Dimensions: 156 x 240 in. (396.3 x 609.6 cm)
- Classification: Mosaics
- Credit Line: Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Excavated by the Yale–British School Archaeological Expedition, 1928–29 (1932.1735)
- Curatorial Department: Medieval Art and The Cloisters