Roman times in a book

emilia lizard book carinthia museum

"Emilia Eidechse & das römische Mosaik - Ein Abenteuer in Teurnia": Viktoria Zehentner conceived and wrote the story of Emilia and the mosaic, Anna Gentilini illustrated it. The Carinthia Museum wants to convey culture to a young audience

(Bild: Christina Natascha Kogler)

The 1500-year-old mosaic in Teurnia continues to fascinate researchers and observers - what the stork and the lizard mean and why Ursus and Ursina are still known today.

In 1910, archaeologists were delighted with a sensational find in St. Peter in Holz near Spittal: they discovered a mosaic floor that was created around the year 500! The 6 x 4 meter mosaic and its twelve picture panels still fascinate researchers, but a book has now also been created for children that tells the story of the adventure in Teurnia.

Curious Emilia looks at Teurnia.

(Bild: Christina Natascha Kogler)

"I was working as a trainee at Teurnia and thought about how to make this magnificent work of art accessible to children," reveals Viktoria Zehentner. The archaeologist from Weißenstein has focused her research on the everyday experiences of children and young people in the province of Noricum. "And I like working with children. They shouldn't see a museum as a bland institution. Everything there is far too exciting for that," says Zehentner, who works at the Diocesan Museum in Graz.

I don't want children to find museums boring. Emilia also gives adults a new perspective on the past.

Viktoria Zehentner, Autorin der Geschichte von Emilia Eidechse

Bild: Viktoria Zehentner

Zehentner wrote the story of Emilia Eidechse because there are many small lizards in the ancient walls of Teurnia and a lizard plays an important role in a picture panel on the mosaic.

In it, Elisabeth Eidechse, who lives with her family and friends in the museum complex of the cemetery church, tells of an old story that her grandmother used to tell: the story of the little lizard Emilia, who heard the people of Teurnia talking about the military commander Ursus. Ursus had come to Teurnia with his wife Ursina and had many plans for the town.

The caring stork
Ursus really was governor of the province of Binnen-Noricum. One of the twelve fields in the mosaic names him and his wife Ursina as the donors of the famous mosaic floor, which shows several animals that tell of the Christian faith. The motif of the stork trying to pick up a lizard with its beak immediately catches the eye: Christ lifts people up to the light. Even the ancient Egyptians were certain that storks not only cared for their young, but also for their parents. The early Christians saw the stork's care as an important characteristic of Jesus.

I internalize the mood of the text before I illustrate. In the book, it was important to show the time, the fashion of the time.

Anna Gentilini, Illustratorin der Geschichte von Emilia

Bild: Anna Gentilini Agentpoppy

The ox in the mosaic stands for the apostles, prophets and all those who proclaim the faith. The mother duck symbolizes the mother church, the chicks the believers. The eagle protects its young from the serpent, just as Christ protects his faithful from the devil.

In the story by Viktoria Zehentner, Emilia Eidechse is looking for a way to save the initially flawed Teurnia mosaic before the ceremonial inauguration...

The mosaic in Teurnia was made from small stones, just as pupils from all over the world still learn to do in Spilimbergo in Italy.

(Bild: Kogler Christina Natascha/Christina Natascha Kogler)

For reading, reading aloud, solving puzzles
"Emilia Eidechse & das römische Mosaik - Ein Abenteuer in Teurnia" (Emilia the Lizard & the Roman Mosaic - An Adventure in Teurnia) is the name of the book, hot off the press, which is available at the ticket office of the Kärnten Museum and in the Heyn bookshop in Klagenfurt for 14.90 euros. In addition to Emilia's adventure, the book contains mosaic puzzles and a suggestion to draw your own mosaic design - recommended for primary school children upwards!