Anthropomorphic lake mosaic with crab claw hairpins

An intricate mosaic with a kaleidoscopic variety of patterns, colors and figures was unearthed in the Turkish city of Iznik, including one of a personification of the lake wearing a crab-claw hairpin. The mosaics, ceramics and coins found in the excavation layers date back to the third century AD.

The mosaic pattern was first discovered 11 years ago during the construction of sewers. Workers discovered a small face made of colorful tiles, but to protect it they covered it up and stopped work in the area. As the mosaic extended beneath roads and private property, a decade-long legal battle over expropriation procedures and permits ensued, until 2024 when the Iznik Museum Authority finally returned to the discovery site and began a full excavation of the expropriated area.

Excavations this year uncovered 50 square meters (538 square feet) of the entire mosaic floor in a designated area. The team also excavated the remains of the lower walls and upper floors of the ancient building. The walls were once covered with frescoes and the floors were inlaid with marble, but most have been damaged over the centuries or taken away and reused.

The mosaic, on the other hand, is almost intact. It is divided into three main panels, underlined by a white border with red pomegranates and ivy leaves. Two pairs of sandals point in different directions between the row of pomegranates and the wall.

The left panel centers on a female figure carrying a basket of produce (pomegranates, grapes, wheat), with two small figures reclining above each shoulder. She is depicted as the goddess of harvest, while the Г label above her head identifies her as Gaia, the goddess of earth. There are also abbreviated labels above the small numbers, but they have not yet been fully deciphered.

She is mounted on an octagonal panel, with each side featuring a square with a different geometric pattern, including guilloche knots, zigzags, checkerboards, harlequins, 3D cubes, wheels and more. Between the square panels are triangular and diamond-shaped panels, filling the space and sometimes creating a cubic effect.

The central panel contains five further octagons with female figures, all bounded by guilloche knots.

[Archaeologist Yusuf Kahveci] The central figure is highlighted: “Next to the central figure we can read the name Askania. This was the Roman-era name for Lake Iznik. The mosaic depicts the lake.”

“The figure is associated with water, with hair rendered in algae-like detail, a crown made of crab claws, and a wavy pattern around the neck. In other words, Lake Iznik is personified as an ancient woman,” he added.

Personification of bodies of water was popular in Greco-Roman art, but this example is unusual in that it refers specifically to a local lake and in the unusual image of crab claws serving as hairpins.

The third part of the mosaic is made up of complex geometric patterns on square, rhombus and triangular panels.

So far, nearly 3,800 square feet of the Roman-era structure have been revealed, but archaeologists believe that more mosaic floors have survived beyond the currently exposed boundaries. The sandals placed near the threshold indicate that this is the entrance to a grand interior space built from modern streets and buildings.