Note 38 — Chapter IV

A. J. Butler, Coptic Churches, vol. i., pp. 37, 38. That the Egyptian mosaic-work was derived from the art of the Lower Empire is supported by the circumstance that the common Arabic name for a tessera of mosaic is fuseyfisā, which is of course the Greek ψῆφος. The term faṣṣ is also employed in the same sense, and mufaṣṣaṣ means “inlaid with squares of marble,” or “covered with mosaic.” The Greek emperor furnished the Khalīf El-Welīd with mosaics and workmen for his mosque at Jerusalem.