Palaiochristainikes vasilikes Dolianon. Ena neo synolo psifidoton dapedon

Two early Christian basilicas and a building with floor mosaics were found close to the community of St. George in Opaya in Doliana. The mosaics of the basilica A have been entirely revealed and the paper is about their iconography and their date. The extended iconographical program consists of a) small figural scenes inside a geometrical frame in the nave, b) large narrative scenes in the aisles, and c) geometric compositions in the narthex. The mosaics in the aisles consist of several panels featuring hunting and fishing scenes, fighting animals, two sheeps under a tree, personifications of the sea and the river. Although the inscriptions of the basilica’s mosaics were destroyed, iconographic and stylistic observations permit the dating of the mosaics to two different periods: either to the late 5th or to the mid 6th century A.D. Their quality and importance can be compared to those of Nicopolis, capital of the roman province of Epirus Vetus. Artistic links with other areas are also evident, namely with the central and northern areas of the Balkans, and with the even farther areas of the East.