Rare 2,000-Year-Old Chariot Racing Mosaic Unearthed
After years of excavating, archaeologists in Cyprus have uncovered a rare, Roman-era floor mosaic almost 2,000 years old.
Scenes of chariot races in a Roman hippodrome, an open-air stadium for horse racing, span across the 85-foot long mosaic. The illustrations are accompanied by inscriptions in ancient Greek, indicating the names of the horses and their riders.
The mosaic is thought to have been part of a gallery in a 4th century AD mansion, and archaeologists say it’s likely one of only a handful from the ancient world. (Read "Surprising Mosaics Revealed in Ancient Synagogue in Israel")
It lay undisturbed for centuries until a farmer in the Cyprus village of Akaki, about 14 miles from the capital Nicosia, stumbled upon a mosaic
