David Neal, best known for his studies on Romano-British mosaics, here catalogues and details the mosaics and opus sectile floors of successive churches of late fourth- to late sixth-century date at Soli, in north-west Cyprus, located by the Bay of Morphou. Bishops are attested securely in the fifth century, but Soli's claim to early Christian fame is the tradition of St Mark's arrival on Cyprus and his consecration of Auxibius as the first bishop in ad 57. The basilica, excavated from 1964 to 1974, has two major phases, A and B, although Neal proposes an underlying fourth-century martyrium – filled in to a depth of more than 4m when the first large basilica was created on the hill slope (pp 20–3). The later basilica, B, is 54m long, with a wide nave, aisles and eastern apse; the opus sectile floor covered c 1,460 sq m. These floors sealed many of the mosaics of basilica A (others were removed, some were cut by piers), which covered c 1,270 sq m. A western atrium featured side rooms and chapels and a central baptismal pool. Intriguingly, basilica A, despite its mass of fine tessellated flooring – geometric, with occasional framed animal figures (beasts, birds, dolphins) – was timber-built over rubble foundations. The presbytery shows four phases of remodelling, spanning the late fourth to sixth centuries. The rebuilding as basilica B on a slightly different alignment featured regular cut-stone walls (these only 0.6m wide, except at the apse which attained 2.2m). This too saw changes, including the insertion of likely episcopal tombs in the presbytery (p 33: not shown on any plans). Quality opus sectile covered the nave and north aisle floors – noticeably, the south aisle featured only flagging and Neal suggests pilgrims, catechumens and/or women may have been restricted to this area (pp 36, 101). No discussion of the dating is given; only on p 17 is a late sixth-century date ascribed.

A well-produced volume (Part I covers building sequences (pp 20–36); Part II details the floor designs (pp 37–102)), full of fine colour images (900 extra are on the cd), the work is flagged as an important effort to encourage heritage co-operation in a divided country. The Canadian excavations here were necessarily cut off in 1974, but subsequent exposure to the elements and tourist activity meant much deterioration which was only properly countered from 2007 when a SAVE project (Supporting Activities that Value the Environment) funded by the United States Agency for International Development – active elsewhere on Cyprus – negotiated site protection, consolidation and new recording.

The site is clearly of high value in terms of early Christian to Byzantine church art and architecture. It has scope also to illuminate the final phases of urban activity on Cyprus before Arab damage and population loss through enslavement – all documented by an astonishing inscription of ad 655 found in the atrium (not illustrated), claiming 120,000 islanders were taken in the late 640s. Sadly, none of the site history is detailed; known or excavated classical structures, such as the theatre and Temple of Athena, get bare mention (p 13). Nor is this fine church put into any context – no other Cypriot church is named and no comparanda are offered for either mosaics or opus sectile. Nor is any bibliography provided. Clearly, however, this volume should be a prompt for revived systematic study at Soli.