Hadrianopolis IV: Early Byzantine mosaics and frescoes from northwestern central Turkey

Hadrianopolis is located on the principal western route from the Central Anatolian plain through the mountains to Bartın and the Black Sea, 3 km west of modern Eskipazar, near Karabük, in Roman southwestern Paphlagonia. Though small, it dominated a rich agricultural and vinicultural enclave on the borders between Paphlagonia, Bithynia and Galatia. Between 2005 and 2008, four survey, excavation and restoration campaigns were conducted on the site by Dokuz Eylül University. The 2005 surveys identified the remains of at least 24 buildings, many of which were paved with extensive mosaic floors. Following the publication of the inscriptions (Hadrianopolis I), glass (Hadrianopolis II), and pottery finds (Hadrianopolis III), the present volume is devoted to these early Byzantine mosaics and frescoes from this site, dated mainly to the 6th and 7th centuries AD. The most remarkable of these is the floor mosaic of the nave of the Basilica B, which displays personifications of the four rivers of paradise: Euphrates, Tigris, Phison and Geon.