The pavements of Plytra (Laconia): diversity of techniques in the mosaics of the southern Peloponnese

Abstract

A building unearthed in Plytra (Laconia) presents a superimposition of three pavements made using various techniques (mosaic of chips of side facing stone, polychrome stone chips, opus tessellatum), as well as a pavement in opus figlinum and irregular tesserae. Their decoration is comparable to the mosaics of Sparta and Gytheion, cities near Plytra. The publication of these pavements is an opportunity to study the variety of techniques used by mosaicists in the southern Peloponnese during the Hellenistic and Imperial periods. These techniques are not unknown in the rest of Greece, but the use of polychrome chips and/or irregular tesserae for geometric, vegetal but also figurative decorations, seems characteristic of the workshops of the Peloponnese.