Bene lava bathing shoes
Mosaic discovery in an antique roman city
The Roman Empire lasted more than five centuries and ruled on three continents over several countries around the Mediterranean Sea. With great military discipline, a high cultural and technical standard, ambition but as well fights and intrigues among their own people, it continued his inexorable advance towards powerful countries such as Greece or Egypt. While winning over the Carthaginian in the 3rd Punic War in 146 B.C., they as well gained power over many countries in North Africa. A military colony was set up 100 A.C. in an unsettled region by the legate of Legio III Augusta, Lucius Munatius Gallus, under the roman emperor Trajan. 40 km east of today’s Batna in Algeria was the colony Marciana Traiana Thamugadi, short Thamugad, located.
The mosaic set Bene lava has a model from Thamugad
Today Thamugad is classified as UNESCO World Heritage Site as his remains still show well the original structures of how a roman city was built. Many buildings have been digged up, additional to a theater there was a public library, a capitol, an aqueduct and public bathrooms.
At the entrance of the thermae a mosaic was found which showed two pairs of bathing shoes pointing in different directions. The house was built with brown, beige and black stones and the inscription is still readable: Bene lava which means “bathe well”. We do not really know whether that meant the owner of the house invited his guests to take a nice bath in his house or if it was a friendly reminder to clean the feet before entering the house. It is nevertheless a fact that these sandals did not differ much from modern sandals you can buy in all shoe stores in the summer.
Mosaic set Bene lava bathing shoes consist of
- Wooden panel 10 x 10 cm
- Mosaic glue
- Mosaic stones
- Carbon paper for an exact transfer
- Model Bene lava
- Mosaic instruction
Mosaic set Bene lava gives insights into the shoe fashion 2 centuries ago
The mosaic set Bene lava is suitable for school and education as this motif shows very well a reference from life in the antique word to modern times. While looking at the mosaic set Bene lava more closely you feel transferred back into roman times. Due to the similar colors and mosaic stones the mosaic set Bene lava is one of the more difficult mosaics and trains the manual skill and perception. It is easy to picture the old romans with the mosaic set Bene lava.
Let us just start with the sandals!
Reduced model without labeling from a roman bath from today’s Timgad, Algeria
The second picture shows a copy in marbel of the mosaic artist Ramon Franco, Freiburg.
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