Excerpt from Specimens of the Geometrical Mosaic of the Middle Ages: With a Brief Historical Notice of the Art, Founded on Papers Read Before the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Royal Society of Arts and the Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and IrelandThat incrusted ¿ooring was known to the Persians in the days of Ahasuerus, we have direct testimony in the sixth verse of the first chapter of Esther, where it is mentioned, as an instance of the luxurious magnificence of the Royal pdace of Shushan, that the beds (couches) were of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue, and white marble. As to the nature of either the construction or design of this most ancient Mosaic, nothing now remains to impart information.We may reasonably infer that, if not pre-existent in Greece, the practice may have been imported into that country through the many Persian invasions, and that spoils taken from the invaders in war may have conveyed to their conquerors important lessons in the arts of peace.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.