Baḥtā

 

The displayed mosaic was discovered at Baḥtā (al-Bāhitā?), a settlement located 25 kilometers east of ar-Raqqā. The mosaic belonged to a floor, the rest of which remained hidden at the time of the excavation. The piece features a rectangle 60 × 100 cm, topped by a triangle with a representation of an animal, with another triangle below the base containing a bunch of grapes. The rectangle itself is filled with a Syriac inscription comprised of eight lines with the translation as follows:

1. in the year eight hundred

2. and sixty-eight

3. in the month of November

4. in the middle

5. which is paved with mosaic

6. this house

7. and achieved

8. the well

ʿAlī ʾabu ʿAssāf. Kitābāt siryānīyyā ǧadīdā fi al-matḥaf al-waṭanī bidimašq. Annales Archéologiques Arabes Syriennes XXII 1972 (pp. 135-144).