The Mosaics of Fishbourne Roman Palace

A guide to the palace's remarkable mosaic floors

The mosaics of Fishbourne Roman Palace are among the finest surviving examples of Roman decorative art in Britain. The north wing of the palace, now protected under a modern museum building, contains a series of mosaic floors that demonstrate the wealth and sophistication of the palace's builder.

The most celebrated is the Cupid on a Dolphin mosaic, a polychrome floor featuring a central roundel depicting the winged figure of Cupid astride a dolphin, surrounded by geometric borders and marine motifs. The quality of the work, particularly the naturalistic rendering of the dolphin, indicates that the craftsmen were either imported from the Mediterranean or trained to the highest Roman standards.

Other mosaics in the palace include black-and-white geometric designs, meander patterns, and more elaborate figured scenes in varying states of preservation. The variety of styles suggests that different teams or workshops were responsible for different rooms, which is consistent with the scale of the building project.

The mosaics at Fishbourne are significant because of their early date. The palace was built around AD 75, only about thirty years after the Roman invasion. The presence of such accomplished mosaic work at this early date challenges the assumption that Roman culture took centuries to establish itself in Britain and suggests that the province was rapidly integrated into the Roman artistic and economic world.

Visitors can view the mosaics from raised walkways in the museum building. Interpretation panels explain the designs and the techniques used. The preservation is remarkable given the age of the floors, though some areas show damage from the fire that destroyed the palace around AD 270.