File:Adana Archaeological Museum Peaceful Kingdom Mosaic 0397b.jpg

English: These mosaics were uncovered in a basilican church at Karlık village of Sarçam district of Adana. They are dated to the mid-fifth century AD. The Peaceful Kingdom, which is mentioned in Isaiah 11, is represented here with images and verses. Pairs of animals are rendered in peace and accompanied with the inscription “the wolf shall lie with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, the cow and the bear shall graze”. Dedicatory inscriptions are translated as “John Pistacus, son of Choreos, had the mosaic of the church made in the month of Artemision in the Indiktion 13 for his family’s and his own soundness during his office as the kandalaramon” and “This mosaic was paved in the month of Artemision in the Indiktion 13 during the time of the respectable priest Sambatios and chief deacon Cyriacus”. Some pictures are semi-originals (all had to be turned and some illumination adjusted), and several then were edited further, to suggest pictures were taken from straight ahead. In reality the mosaics are huge and sometimes many meters from the observation point. As a result the size of animals may vary a bit. The mosaic of Karlik uses a composite text-image program, the motif presents a “peaceful” alternative to the frequent scenes of animal chases or combats that were popular choices for the floors of churches in the eastern Mediterranean.