Talk:Mosaics of Delos

GA Review

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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This review is transcluded from Talk:Mosaics of Delos/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Iazyges (talk · contribs) 04:29, 24 July 2017 (UTC)

Will start shortly. Iazyges Consermonor Opus meum 04:30, 24 July 2017 (UTC)

@Iazyges: I look forward to it! All the best, --Pericles of Athens^Talk 05:47, 24 July 2017 (UTC)

@PericlesofAthens: I've finished looking over the article. I've passed the GAN, but have a couple of prose suggestions for you to look over. Another great article! -- Iazyges Consermonor Opus meum 07:04, 25 July 2017 (UTC)

Criteria

GA Criteria
GA Criteria: 1 1.a Y 1.b Y 2 2.a Y 2.b Y 2.c Y 2.d Y 3 3.a Y 3.b Y 4 4.a Y 5 5.a Y 6 6.a Y 6.b Y

• No DAB links Y
• No Dead links Y
• Images appropriately licensed Y

Prose Suggestions

Lede

• "Most of the surviving mosaic artworks from Delos, Greece, an Aegean island in the Cyclades," The page for the Cyclades mentions that the island group is considered to be clustered around Delos itself; I'm not totally sure if it's worth adding, but you might want to consider a short piece on it.
• "date to the last half of the 2nd century BC and early 1st century BC, during the Hellenistic period and beginnings of Roman Greece." perhaps "and the begining of the Roman Greek period." would fit better.

Body

Dating

• "Of the 354 mosaics of Delos studied by French archaeologist Philippe Bruneau," is it known how many total mosaics are on Delos? It would seem a worthy addition, to give an idea of the sample size he was working with.
• The caption for the left image within the Dating section links to Ambrosia, but the link itself goes to the food; the Hyade Ambrosia, which is the actual subject, is mentioned in a DAB page, but doesn't have its own page. You may wish to redlink it, perhaps [[Ambrosia (Hyade)|Ambrosia]].

Characteristics

• "found in fifty-five homes and usually reserved for the ground floor." you may wish to restructure this slightly, perhaps "found in fifty-five homes, usually on the ground floor." or "found in fifty-five homes, and which usually reserved for the ground floor."
• "Rachel Hachlili writes that the single wave pattern, a common motif in Hellenistic art, is the most predominant type of border design for mosaics at Delos and appear in mosaics of Arsameia (albeit arranged in the opposite direction)." You may wish to slightly introduce Rachel Hachlili, perhaps "Rachel Hachlili, the classical Archaeologist," or "Professor Rachel Hachlili".
• "Aside from a sign of the Punic-Phoenician goddess Tanit," what does "a sign" mean here? Is it a symbol associated with her? If not, perhaps "a depiction" would work better.

Pericles' reply

@Iazyges: hi again! Thanks for reviewing the article. I'm not sure if the Cyclades need much more of an explanation, but I've reworded the other parts of the article where you suggested changes. That includes the sentences about Roman Greece, the fifty-five homes with white chip pavement, the profession of Rachel Hachlili, and the symbol of Tanit. I also made a new pipe link for Ambrosia. As for the 354 mosaics being studied by Bruneau: from what I understand after reading multiple texts, there are only 354 mosaics that have truly survived; they didn't leave any mosaics out to the equation! I have amended the text to reflect that. Regards, --Pericles of Athens^Talk 07:26, 25 July 2017 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Discovery

@PericlesofAthens: congratulations on bringing this article to FA and the front page. It is an interesting read. I couldn't find anything on the archaeological history of the mosaics - i.e. when they were discovered, when they were excavated, etc.

The first time Delos was described in modern literature was in 1771 see the original here on pages 85-87. But I don't see any reference to mosaics there, so I suspect they were not uncovered at that point.

Delos was then subject to a small excavation as part of the Morea expedition, so it might have been then that it was first discovered?

Onceinawhile (talk) 08:10, 5 February 2020 (UTC)

@Onceinawhile: hello! Thanks for the congratulations. You raise some excellent questions here. My article is very thorough with the exception of this one topic, the gradual (or sudden?) stages of archaeological discovery. As you can see, various archaeologists such as François Chamoux noted the incredible importance of the site in regards to the overall surviving body of Hellenistic mosaics. However, in the sources cited for the article I was unable to find any information on the discovery process or firm dates for the first and most consequential archaeological excavations. If someone can track those down from a suitable academic source then I'd be happy to include this discussion in the article. Kind regards, Pericles of Athens^Talk 08:23, 5 February 2020 (UTC)

@PericlesofAthens: I have done some more searching. The discovery will be explained in here – it's the record of the first major excavation of the island: [1].

Onceinawhile (talk) 08:44, 5 February 2020 (UTC)

See page 130 and onwards. Onceinawhile (talk) 08:50, 5 February 2020 (UTC)

@Onceinawhile: hi once again! Thank you kindly for sharing this source. I am happy to announce that Jacques Albert Lebègue's 1876 publication is now mentioned in the very first sentence of the "Dating" section, along with the date of the initial excavation in 1872. Pericles of Athens^Talk 17:12, 5 February 2020 (UTC)