discovered in the affluent suburb of daphne and the nearby port city of seleucia pieria, the mosaics date from the days of the emperor hadrian in the 2nd century a.d. to the christian empire of justinian in the 6th century, bridging the classical world and the early middle ages. the mosaics illustrate how the classical art of greece and rome evolved into the art of the early christian era, and tell the story of how people lived in this ancient city prior to its destruction by catastrophic earthquakes in 526 and 528 a.d. the mosaics are notable for their grand scale and elaborately patterned borders, and the brilliance of their decorative and naturalistic effects.