Mosaics of the 4th century BC are found in the Macedonian palace-city of Aegae, and they enriched the floors of Hellenistic villas, and Roman dwellings from Britain to Dura-Europos. Splendid mosaic floors are found in Roman villas across north Africa. In Rome, Nero and his architects used mosaics to cover the surfaces of walls and ceilings in the Domus Aurea, built AD 64.

The mosaics of the Villa Romana del Casale near Piazza Armerina in Sicily are the largest collection of late Roman mosaics in the world and are protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The large villa rustica, which was probably owned by Emperor Maximian, was largely built in the early 4th century. The mosaics were covered and protected by a landslide in the 12th century for 700 years. The most important pieces are the Circus Scene, the 64 m long Great Hunting Scene, the Little Hunt, the Labours of Hercules and the famous Bikini Girls, showing girls in modern-looking bikinis. The peristyle, the imperial apartements and the thermae were also decorated with ornamental and mythological mosaics. Other important examples of Roman mosaic art in Sicily were unearthed on the Piazza Vittoria in Palermo where two houses were discovered. The most important scenes here depicted Orpheus, Alexander the Great's Hunt and the Four Seasons.

In 2000 archaeologists working in Leptis Magna, Libya uncovered a 30 ft length of five colorful mosaics created during the 1st or 2nd century. The mosaics show a warrior in combat with a deer, four young men wrestling a wild bull to the ground, and a gladiator resting in a state of fatigue, staring at his slain opponent. The mosaics decorated the walls of a cold plunge pool in a bath house within a Roman villa. The gladiator mosaic is noted by scholars as one of the finest examples of mosaic art ever seen ? a "masterpiece comparable in quality with the Alexander mosaic in Pompeii."

Modern Mosaics

A modern example of mosaic is the Museum of Natural History station of the New York Subway. Some modern mosaics are the work of modernisme style architects Antoni Gaud? and Josep Maria Jujol, for example the mosaics in the Park G'ell in Barcelona. Today, among of the leading figures of the world in mosaic art is Saimir Strati. His process is similar to traditional oil painting wherein the artist first sketches a design onto a canvas before creating the layers of the artwork. Among his credits are two Guinness World Records for largest 'Nail' and 'Toothpick' mosaics.

You can now get a unique poster or canvas of your favourite football team, football art which would not look out of place in any home, involve close friends and family in your unique piece of art by opting for one of our mosaic or 'art by you' options.