Anonymous - A woman holding a sickle and wheat (detail of a mosaic floor)

• Title: A woman holding a sickle and wheat (detail of a mosaic floor)
• Artist: Anonymous (-)
• Date: c. 4th century
• Medium: Mosaic
• Dimensions: 23 x 23 cm

This detail is part of a 5th century mosaic floor of a 4th church in Petra, current Jordan. It depicts a woman holding a sickle and wheat symbolizing the harvest season. She is wearing earings and, more surprising, what seems to be a hat. She has one breast exposed in a typical symbol of fertility and plentifulness.

Mosaic art flourished in Christian Petra where three Byzantine churches were discovered. It is known that their walls were covered with golden glass mosaics though only the floor panels survived. This harvest season detail is part of a mosaic depicting all the seasons. Other mosaics depicted native as well as exotic or mythological animals, and personifications of the Seasons, Ocean, Earth and Wisdom.