Domestic and divine

Built on the southwestern coast of Cyprus in the second century A.D., the House of Dionysos is full of clues to a distant life - wine jars discovered in the corner of a portico, shards of pottery, a clutch of Roman coins found on a skeleton under a fallen wall - yet none is so evocative as the intricate mosaic floors that lead the eye from room to room, inscribing in their colored images the traditions, aspirations, and relations of another world.

In this lavishly illustrated volume, Christine Kondoleon conducts us through the House of Dionysos, showing us what its interior decoration discloses about its inhabitants and their time.