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Source Description
This mosaic panel representing the Fall of Adam and Eve once formed part of a much larger mosaic decorating the floor of an early Byzantine church in northern Syria. Here, Adam and Eve are portrayed sharing the forbidden fruit while covering themselves with large leaves. At the top of the panel, a Greek inscription reads, "And they ate and they were made naked," recalling the biblical text (Gen. 3:7) and highlighting the two moments in the biblical narrative of the Fall that are depicted here.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
144277
label
Fragment of a Floor Mosaic: Adam and Eve
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
144277
contentType
object
title
Fragment of a Floor Mosaic: Adam and Eve
description
This mosaic panel representing the Fall of Adam and Eve once formed part of a much larger mosaic decorating the floor of an early Byzantine church in northern Syria. Here, Adam and Eve are portrayed sharing the forbidden fruit while covering themselves with large leaves. At the top of the panel, a Greek inscription reads, "And they ate and they were made naked," recalling the biblical text (Gen. 3:7) and highlighting the two moments in the biblical narrative of the Fall that are depicted here.
date
late 400s–early 500s CE
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60756275
genreSpecific
Mosaic
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 142.9 x 107.3 x 5.7 cm (56 1/4 x 42 1/4 x 2 1/4 in.); Mounted: 142.9 x 107.3 x 7 cm (56 1/4 x 42 1/4 x 2 3/4 in.)
cul
early Byzantium, Northern Syria, Byzantine period, late 5th-early 6th century
accession
1969.115
Source extras
tec
marble and stone tesserae
tombstone
Fragment of a Floor Mosaic: Adam and Eve, late 400s–early 500s CE. Early Byzantium, Northern Syria, Byzantine period, late 5th-early 6th century. Marble and stone tesserae; overall: 142.9 x 107.3 x 5.7 cm (56 1/4 x 42 1/4 x 2 1/4 in.); mounted: 142.9 x 107.3 x 7 cm (56 1/4 x 42 1/4 x 2 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1969.115
collection
MED - Byzantine
inscriptions
inscription
ΚΕΘΑΓΟΝΕΓΥΜΝΟΘΗ (Κ’ΕΘΑΓΟΝ ΕΓΥΜΝΟΘΗ[ΣΑΝ] = κ[αι] ἔφαγον ἐγυμνώθη[σαν])
inscription_translation
"And they ate, [and they] were made naked."
sortorder
0
didYouKnow
In the Syrian village where this mosaic was created, few people could read and even fewer had access to books. The images within the church educated the community, leading 5th-century Pope Gregory the Great to describe religious images as "books for the illiterate."
citations
citation
"The Year in Review for 1969." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art </em>57, no. 1 (January 1970): 2-50
page_number
Mentioned: p. 47 no. 120
citation
Donceel-Voûte, Pauline. <em>Les Pavements des Eglises Byzantines de Syrie et du Liban: Décor, Archéologie et Liturgie</em>. Louvain-la-Neuve: Département d'Archéologie et d'Histoire de l'Art, 1988.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 487-489 fig. 456, t. 1
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holger A. Klein<em>. Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art.</em> Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: P. 50-51, no. 8
citation
Gertsman, Elina and Barbara H. Rosenwein. <em>The Middle Ages in 50 Objects</em>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 56-59; Reproduced: p. 57
citation
Belis, Alexis. <em>Roman Mosaics in the J. Paul Getty Museum.</em> Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2016. p. 65
page_number
Mention: P. 65, n. 6
creditline
John L. Severance Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 07:24:18.267000
sourceId
144277
dept
Medieval Art
coll
MED - Byzantine
med
marble and stone tesserae
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
feef7974efc335ea