From earliest times the mosaic technique has been used to cover floors. There were mosaic floors in the principal rooms of public buildings, palaces and tombs, as well as in the formal rooms of private houses where banquets were held (in the 'andrones', the men's apartments).
The use of mosaic became widespread in Macedonia at the end of the 5th century BC. In the following century the region became a center for mosaic floors of high quality. The transfer of the kingdom's capital to Pella and the erection of a new palace there provided a fresh impetus to Macedonian artistic production.
It is also possible that the presence of artists such as Zeuxis, who was invited to decorate the palaces with frescoes, influenced the art of mosaic. Remarkable mosaic floors have been found in Olynthos, Vergina, Pella, Thessalonike and Dion. The subjects used for these floors, which date from the Classical to Roman periods, were geometric and plant motifs, mythological depictions and hunting scenes.
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