Mosaïque de Penthée

This mosaic, discovered during excavations carried out in Nîmes in 2007, adorned the floor of a sumptuous Roman house (domus). It was executed using the Roman technique of opus tesselatum. On a first layer of pebbles (statumen) is poured a layer of aggregate of lime, gravel and stone (rudus), then a mortar of lime and debris of terra cotta (nucleus). Finally, on a thin layer of mortar, the decoration made of tesserae of 3 to 5 mm on a side is laid and fixed with a milk of lime.