While wandering through and looking at the mosaics, there was one dedicated to Ktisis in the house of Eustolios. Never having heard of this before, I decided to do more research, because there wasn’t much of an explanation of who she was, or why she was there. Researchers hesitate to give her the status of goddess, however what she represents is almost Christ like. In Ancient Greek, Ktisis is the act of becoming, or coming into being. She is often depicted holding a measuring rod, which symbolizes the act of building. Not only is this clever because she represents creating something that wasn’t there before, but by creating these mosaics, what she stands for is happening in active practice. Ktisis appears after the majority of the empire was already Christian, which means she is not a Greek god or deity. She was popularized by philosophers during the early Christian era, and it boggles my mind that she was being represented the same time as Jesus Christ, and yet I had never seen or heard about her before. She represents creativity and creation, and is such an inspiring personification, it’s saddens me that she was not carried further into Christianity. She is also found to represent donation, generosity and foundation in other depictions of Ktisis. She if often covered, with jewels to showcase this. While she may not be considered a goddess by historical standards, she remains a goddess in my heart.