Archaeologists Unearth 1,500-Year-Old Smyrna Mosaic Measuring 16.4 by 8.2 Feet

Q: Was Smyrna’s newly uncovered mosaic part of a church, a luxury home, or something else hidden beneath İzmir for 1,500 years?

It is not yet known whether the mosaic belonged to a church, a luxury home, or another kind of building. Archaeologists say the floor was part of a Late Antique structure built between the fourth and sixth centuries A.D. along Smyrna’s Agora North Street, one of the city’s main urban arteries. The room itself has been dubbed the “Mosaic Room,” but excavation director Akın Ersoy has said researchers cannot yet determine whether the larger building was a private residence, an elite reception space, or a public facility. The decoration offers clues but not a firm identification. Its geometric and floral motifs, including Solomon’s Knot, laurel, clover, and the red heart-shaped ivy leaf, fit the ornamental language of Late Roman and early Byzantine mosaics seen in both church floors and high-status secular interiors. Ersoy said the symbols likely carried protective and religious meanings, but that does not by itself prove the room was ecclesiastical. What is clearer is the site’s long reuse. Evidence shows the mosaic was built over in the 19th century, likely by an Ottoman-era structure connected either to nearby residences or a non-Muslim hospital complex. Plaster and wall traces suggest later occupants uncovered the ancient floor and then preserved it with minimal damage, allowing it to survive roughly 1,500 years beneath modern İzmir. So, for now, the safest answer is that the mosaic was part of an important Late Antique room whose exact function remains unresolved.

3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Aug 2

A 1,500-year-old mosaic has been fully excavated in ancient Smyrna, modern-day İzmir, after first being identified last year during infrastructure work.
Officials date the remarkably preserved floor to the fourth to sixth centuries A.D.; its geometric and floral designs include a red, heart-shaped ivy leaf motif.
Excavation director Akın Ersoy said traces of surrounding walls were also found and believes a 19th-century Ottoman structure was built over the site while largely avoiding damage to the mosaic.
Bags, cooking pots and earthenware from the late Ottoman Empire and early Turkish Republic suggest the space was reused roughly 1,500 years after the mosaic was laid.
The find adds to a run of discoveries in biblical Revelation cities: Smyrna is one of the seven churches of Asia Minor named in the text.