“Roman mosaics in Autun” is the 4th chapter of my travel guide to the Roman mosaics in Gaul.  I have been visiting museums and archaeological sites in France for the past 10 years and have been documenting them. Little by little I am publishing them. Each chapter describes the mosaics you can see in one location, how to get there and suggestions for other things to do in the area.

Previous chapters covered the Roman mosaics in Langres, Anse, Chalon sur Saone, Amiens, and Sens. You can download these chapters for Free on my ACADEMIA.EDU Channel

This 4th chapter is about Autun, in Saone et Loire.

In Autun, once called Augustodunum, the Romans didn’t just build mosaics — they built philosophical floors. Between two battles and three amphorae of wine, they covered their villas with images celebrating Epicurean wisdom: “Life is short, drink faster.” Anacreon whispers about love, Epicurus praises simple pleasures, and the Gallic aristocrat who commissioned it all nods approvingly… while his slaves, busy polishing the tesserae, wonder quietly when the “absence of pain” is supposed to begin.

Elsewhere, the imagination runs wild: marine bulls with Hippocampus tails, hippocampi themselves galloping nobly as they pull Neptune’s chariot, and even a sea griffin, half-eagle, half-fish, entirely improbable — the Roman equivalent of saying, “Why not?”

These mosaics aren’t just decoration. They are a manifesto of prestige, a proof that Greek poetry, philosophy, and mythology reached deep into Gaul — all the way to a town where children once learned Homeric Greek before breakfast and Burgundy wine after. In short: fragments of stone, fragments of eternity, and a discreet reminder that cultural superiority always looks better in marble.

Click to download “Roman mosaics in Autun”