Mosaic Floor Found in 5th Century Urfa Castle – History Blog

A 5th-century mosaic floor was discovered during an excavation at Urfa Castle in Çanliurfa, Türkiye. The mosaic consists of black, white and red tesserae with animal, vegetable motifs and Greek inscriptions. In one corner of the floor is a medallion with representations of the four cosmic elements: air, water, earth and fire. Such medals were likely placed in the other three corners of the room, and their unusual imagery may shed new light on religious practices in the region in late antiquity.

Archaeologists believe the building was a chapel, chapel or martyr cemetery. The inscription includes the names and titles of the religious officials who sponsored the building’s construction. The inscription adopts an inscription from the early Byzantine Empire and calls for the protection of “Count Anacas and his family”. The formula was used to invoke the intercession of a saint for the major benefactor who financed the construction of the building.

The inscription mentions the bishop of Kairos in the region, Elias (Ilyas in Turkish) who served as chief priest, and Labulus who held the office of deacon, a position assisting in churches where the deacon held the role of chief reader. […]

Religious personnel who served in the building appear to have been buried at the site.

“Similar to the rock tombs we found on the southern slope of the castle and in the Kyzilkoyun cemetery, we see evidence of burials here. We have discovered at least three but will continue to work on them next year,” Kozbey said.

“This is an important find. Similar floor examples exist in southeastern Anatolia and other regions. The names provide important clues about who had religious responsibility in the region, and about the religious practices and rituals of the elite, including local commanders,” Kozbey added.

Archaeologists have been excavating the historic castle for five years. Most of the surviving citadel was built by the Abbasid caliphs in the 9th century AD, but archaeological evidence from the site dates back to the Neolithic period. The mosaics were found in the interior of the upper castle.