An Early Christian Martyrion and Opus Sectile Pavement from Bathonea

Abstract

Archaeological excavations started in 2009 at the ancient harbour settlement of Bathonea on the Firuzkoy Peninsula in the Kucukcekmece Lake Basin on the western side of Istanbul. The excavations uncovered harbours, roads, squares, water structures, military, civil and religious buildings dating between the century BC and the XIth century AD. In the area coded as Area 8, surrounded by the remains of a fortress, building with a square exterior and octagonal interior plan, a domed structure and a crypt is thought to martyrion due to its characteristics. During the excavations carried out in this building, a geometrical floor slab in opus sectile technique was unearthed. In addition, mosaic pavements were recovered from the dome, arches, vaults and walls of the building. The tesserae, which appear to have been embedded in a thick plaster, are made of natural stones such as green, blue, yellow, red, white, marble, glass and tiles, as well as many gold and silver gilded ones. In this paper, the fragments of the geometric opus sectile floor tile, some of which were