During the Roman Empire, mosaics were built in large rooms to make them more admirable and exciting. There was an architect who wrote a book about mosaics and how they were designed, but this book did not include how the check (a pattern of small squares) was collected or how they were arranged. This man's name is Vitruvius. He is the reason why there are so many post-Roman mosaics. They can tell stories of normal life or mythology or be portraits, but the style of these mosaics varies from Rome to North Africa, Syria and many other countries. The style also reflects the decade it comes from. Take a mosaic of a griffin from Syria, it would be different from a mosaic from Rome, as you can see. This also proves my other point, which is that if they aren't in the same decade they won't be very similar, just as if they weren't in the same region of the Roman Empire. Furthermore, the main deciphering factor among Roman mosaics is the location, decade and/or culture of the city or region. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Guide to the region Mosaics have been found all over the Mediterranean peninsula, the ones I will present are from Rome and Syria (photos of these are shown above) the one from Rome which has a different style than Syria due to the different culture of Rome at the time, the culture revolved around how rich you were while in Syria the mosaic was well past the height and fall of the Roman Empire. The details of the mosaics are: that of Rome; Roman, from Rome, Italy 115-150 AD Syria; Roman, from Syria, 400-600 AD Source Analysis The Rome mosaic is a decorative mosaic that shows no history but there is the face of medusa (a snake-haired gorgon) which is surrounded by a growth pattern ( in size) triangles to form a circular shape. That circle is surrounded by some shapes that appear to wrap around something and give way to some larger triangles that have what looks like a bell inside them. These bells face the center of the mosaic. The mosaic from Syria is also more decorative and as well as depicting a character from Roman mythology, a griffin, but this mosaic does not have a decorative circle of triangles growing around it, this is on a simple piece of stone. Even though he doesn't have a background, he is holding what looks to me like a decorative wheel, the spokes of the wheel seem to have a sun-shaped design, it could be symbolic, I don't know.