Mansion Pergola Opus Sectile

View looking east at the apse and floor of the Pergola of the "Sunken Garden" of the Byzantine mansion.  The floor was made out of cut marble pieces.  This type of flooring is called Opus Sectile, which means, "cut stone."  It was a more expensive flooring than a mosaic floor.

Part of the staircase that led up to the mansion is visible on the far upper left of the image.

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This was a splendid three-story seafront mansion that was built in the 6th century A.D.  The "sunken garden" was built out over a portion of the old Western Hippodrome—the northern portion of which had been out of use for hundreds of years.