Who invented mosaic art?

According to The Encyclopedia of Mosaic Techniques, by Emma Biggs,

"The history of mosaic seems to begin in the ancient Near East, with some of the earliest known pieces, made with pebbles of constrasting colors, coming from Greece. It was the Romans, however, who really developed the art of mosaic."

Mosaic art is one of the oldest art forms and it also was probably one of the very first green arts due to being able to create mosaic art with discarded or found objects. Today many mosaic artists are promoting the upcycling side of mosaic art.

If you research the early mosaic arts you will find amazing pieces still intact today and when you consider the tesserae they had available as well as the tools they had to use, mosaic artists of early times were true craftsmen.

For more fascination history of mosaic art search for pique assiette mosaic to learn about the man that used found plates and other objects to cover his home and surroundings with mosaic art. The people in his community gave him the name of Pique Assiette meaning plate stealer or breaker and that is how that style of mosaic was named.

I believe it is vital that as a mosaic artist today we understand the rich and beautiful history of the mosaic artists down through history.