From Wilderness to Paradise: A Sixth-Century Mosaic Pavement at Qasr el-Lebia in Cyrenaica, Libya

From Wilderness to Paradise presents an in-depth study of the large mosaic pavement in the East Church at Qasr el-Lebia in Cyrenaica, Libya.The pavement, which survives almost in its entirety, consists of fifty panels, each containing a different image.Despite being described as ‘the finest and most interesting set of Christian mosaics yet found in Libya’ (Illustrated London News, December 1957), subsequent studies have generally dismissed the pavement as a random selection of images with no symbolic meaning and no overarching scheme.This book argues that the remarkably rich and complex mosaic should be understood as a coherent whole. A discussion about reading imagery in Late Antiquity precedes a meticulous iconographical study.Within the pavement’s overall coherence, the grid layout allows the panels to be read in different directions, rather like a crossword puzzle, their meaning shifting with each change of focus.Particular attention is paid to small groups of images related either