Talk:Mosaics of Delos

Discovery
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)


 * 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)
 * 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:.
 * Onceinawhile (talk) 08:44, 5 February 2020 (UTC)
 * See page 130 and onwards. Onceinawhile (talk) 08:50, 5 February 2020 (UTC)
 * 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)