Editing Ancient Roman architecture (section)

=== Mosaics ===
{{main|Roman mosaic}}
[[File:Centaur mosaic - Google Art Project retouched.jpeg|thumb|The Centaur mosaic (2nd century), found at [[Hadrian's Villa]] in [[Tivoli, Italy|Tivoli]], Italy. [[Altes Museum]], Berlin]] 
On his return from campaigns in Greece, the general [[Sulla]] brought back what is probably the best-known element of the early [[Roman Empire|imperial period]]: the [[mosaic]], a decoration made of colourful chips of stone inserted into cement. This tiling method took the empire by storm in the late first century and the second century and in the Roman home joined the well-known [[mural]] in decorating floors, walls, and [[grotto]]es with [[geometric]] and [[pictorial]] designs.

There were two main techniques in Greco-Roman mosaic. ''[[Opus vermiculatum]]'' used tiny ''[[tesserae]]'', typically cubes of 4 millimeters or less, and was produced in workshops in relatively small panels, which were transported to the site glued to some temporary support. The tiny ''tesserae'' allowed very fine detail and an approach to the illusionism of painting. Often small panels called ''emblemata'' were inserted into walls or as the highlights of larger floor-mosaics in coarser work. The normal technique, however, was ''[[opus tessellatum]]'', using larger tesserae, which were laid on site.{{sfn|Smith|1983|pp=116–119}} There was a distinct native Italian style using black on a white background, which was no doubt cheaper than fully coloured work.{{sfn|Smith|1983|pp=121–123}}

A specific genre of Roman mosaic obtained the name ''asaroton'' (Greek "unswept floor"). It represented an optical illusion of the leftovers from a feast on the floor of rich houses.{{sfn|Miller|1972}}