The disclosure of the floors of the hall and its vestibule was completed in June 1975. Today the floor covering no longer survives except for two small sections in hall B. However, traces of marble tiles are still preserved on the substrate, and their detailed mapping allowed the reconstruction of their geometric motifs.
Description of the motifs
Vestibule
The design of the floor followed the geometry of the ground plan. It consisted of a panel (7.80 x 4.50 m.) paved with square white and colored tiles (0.26 x 0.26 m.) set diagonally in the form of a checkerboard. The perimeter of the rectangle was constructed of marble bands (width 0.26 m.). The panel was surrounded by a marble zone consisting of slabs of different sizes.
The checkerboard motif was already widespread in the Roman Empire from the early Christian centuries, chiefly in places of Hellenistic culture. In Late Antiquity, mainly in the 4th and perhaps the first half of the 5th century AD, this typology prevailed in the Thessaloniki region, whence it was transferred to Corinth, where during the 5th and early 6th century it evolved into more complex forms until it was finally phased out during the age of Justinian.
The main hall
The floor of the south part of the hall (hall B) and that of the apse were covered by marble tiles in the opus sectile technique. The design of the floor covering resulted from the repetition of a basic motif (modulo) which covered the entire floor surface.
In hall B, the main repeated shape was a square measuring 101 centimeters on each side. Inside the square, smaller geometric shapes were created symmetrically towards one of its diagonals: a square (0.67 m. on each side) in which another square (sides: 0.03 m.) was inscribed and set diagonally, and two rectangles framing it on the two perpendicular sides. At the intersection of the two rectangles (0.34 x 0.67 m.) a smaller rectangle was formed (sides: 0.34 m), while inside them triangles and squares were formed.
The floor of the eastern niche was paved with similar tiles and a marble band with a width ranging between 30 and 40 centimeters, while in the western nice, inside a rectangle (2.08 x 1.54 m.) surrounded by marbles slabs, the vestibule checkerboard motif was repeated.
The apse floor was covered in tiles of the same typology (modulo quadrato-reticolare), but with a different design. The basic repeated shape (modulo) was a square (sides: 0.47 m.) divided on its interior into four equal squares (sides: 0.235 m.). In one of the squares there was another inscribed square, while lozenges and triangles were formed inside the other two squares. The repetition of these shapes over the entire area of the floor created the impression—as appears from the drawing of the graphic reconstruction—that the remaining fourth square was surrounded by two concentric circles. Tiles with a similar motif were used in the Villa Adriana and at Ostia.
On both of the floors of the Apsidal hall, the different geometric shapes were distinguished by the bichromy of the tiles, which were white or green. The types of marble employed to construct the floor of the semi-circular section included Karystian stone, green Tinos marble, and white marble.
