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group or person or symbol within the central circle represents the inner heaven itself, its nature and the hope of the devotee for what he will find there." [handwritten: 566] However, in the bath, at Narlidja, there are no supports such as the symbols of the four [handwritten: ?] gospels on the four sides of the [handwritten: 569] baptistery of San Giovanni at Naples. Because of the octangular, straight-lined form imposed upon the mosaic by the two interlaced squares, there are no concave quadrants of circles set off from the inner circle but only straight, small triangular shapes. As the mosaic was in reality on the floor and only reflects in a general way what might have been in the dome, it is quite possible that supporters were considered superfluous. [handwritten: H]owever whether or not the dome of heaven was intended as part of the floor decoration, there can be no doubt that these concentric circles and interlaced squares emphasized the figure of [handwritten: Σωτηρία].
[handwritten: Σωτήρ] Now in a society in which even the bathattendants talked theology and in which [handwritten: there are many were engraved] [handwritten: 570] inscriptions still preserved with the words [handwritten: σωτηρία,] [handwritten: 571 σωτηρία] meaning eternal salvation, [handwritten: ?] can in part have meant only eternal salvation. Since Cyril of Jerusalem states specifically that the only method of gaining salvation was by way of baptism, it seems reasonable to assume that [handwritten: σωτηρία] here [handwritten: 572] implies baptism. [handwritten: Κύριος] Moreover, in the Greek rite of baptism one of the things prayed for was the salvation of the
65 figures hard to readstruck struck outadded written in above” jug ditto, and what it repeatsword reading not certain