Excavated: 1912 (GdS 1912, 275 (September); NSc 1912, 435; Vaglieri).
Mosaic: SO IV, 69-70 nr. 95, tav. 93 (bottom).
Inscription: CIL XIV S, 4549 nr. 14.
Date: 190-200 AD (SO IV); 200-210 AD (Clarke).
Meas. of tesserae: 0.015-0.02 (SO IV).
Mosaic
General descriptionThe statio is divided in two halves through the mosaic floor. The north half, without text and depictions, obviously served as a corridor leading to a door in the back wall. The north half of the back room has a floor of white tesserae. It was separated from the south half by a black band, four tesserae wide, of which a small part has been preserved. The floor of the south half of the back room has not been preserved.
Much of the floor of the front room has been preserved, the west end is missing. The north half has a floor of white tesserae. Most of the north end of this half was restored (?) with a very large, stepped, solid patch of black tesserae. This half was separated from the south half by a black band, the continuation of the band in the back room. The south half was separated from statio 13 by an identical black band that has disappeared since the excavation. To the north of this border is another black band, again four tesserae wide. In the south-east corner of this half are restorations of black and white tesserae, but the mosaic there is now much different from what was found during the excavation.
At the east end of the south half is a single line of text without a frame or tabula ansata. Below are some small "objects" of black and white tesserae. Below that is an elephant. In the north-west corner of the preserved part is a very large, solid black rectangle with a few white tesserae, and with a small object sticking out at the south-east corner. The west part of this black rectangle seems to be a restoration, with lines of tesserae running slightly diagonally.
TextThe text is (h. of letters 0.15):
STATSABRATENSIVM
The letters SABR are touching each other, as if they are an ancient repair.
Suggested reading:
STAT(io) SABRATENSIVM
Depictions
Three graffiti from Ostia depict an elephant (see the section "The marble inscriptions and graffiti"). On the graffiti the skin is indicated by lines forming lozenges. That is not the case on the mosaic, so it did not serve as a model for the graffiti (and neither did the elephant in statio 28).
Becatti
Elephant. Un elefante di profilo verso sinistra, con la proboscide abbassata e parchi dettagli bianchi, dal corpo piuttosto magro, dalle grandi orecchie e con le zampe in atto di muoversi lentamente, con la coda abbassata.
Masonry
The back room has a rear wall of opus latericium. It shares a door with statio 15, leading to room g to the east. It seems to have a marble threshold, which is to be checked in situ. The door is in the same position and has the same width (3.15 m.) as the door in the back wall of stationes 6 and 7. The south wall (not on Vaglieri's plan and not present on the model) is of opus vittatum simplex (one layer preserved), there is no north wall (absent also on Vaglieri's plan, but present on the model). In the back wall are a few holes. On Vaglieri's plan a large rectangle is drawn in the back room.
Interpretation
Sabratha is located on the coast of Libya, about 70 kilometres to the west of Tripoli. The elephant suggests that from here wild animals were exported. It has often been suggested that ivory was exported, but such a luxury item is out of place on the square. On the main road of Leptis Magna (modern Khoms, Libya; 100 kilometres to the east of Tripoli) a marble elephant was found standing on its own base, between two honorary arches.[1] The skin is indicated by lines forming lozenges. Elephants lived in Fezzan, the south-western part of modern Libya, and to the east and west of this area. On coins of Hadrian and Septimius Severus, Africa is personified by a head wearing an elephant headdress.
We may assume that mostly young elephants were captured and taken to Rome, after the parents had been killed.[2] For the transport bad weather was most undesirable, not only because of the risk of losing a precious cargo and because the animals would be delivered too late, but also because it prolongued the time during which the animals had to be kept alive aboard. For speedy transport the sailing ships were also equipped with oars.[3]
Beginning in the late second century AD the arena games were modified in two ways. First of all, animals were from now on often kept alive and not slaughtered, so that they could be used for future games. Secondly, the truly exotic wild animals - such as leopards, tigers and ostriches - were often replaced by less exotic and common animals - such as bears, bulls, boar and deer - that could be caught relatively nearby.
The inhabitants of Ostia and Portus were very familiar with these animals, not only because of their arrival at the port, but also because many were kept in an Imperial vivarium to the south of Ostia, in the Laurentine area. Elephants in this "zoo" are mentioned by Juvenalis (Satires XII,110), and elephant bones have been found here. The site was supervised by procuratores Laurento ad elephantos (CIL VI, 8583). Another inscription documents a praepositus camellorum, accompanied by a depiction of an elephant and two dromedaries (Bloch 1953, 276 nr. 37). An inscription from Rome documents a praepositus herbariarum, in charge of plant eating animals (CIL VI, 10209).
An inscription from 138 AD found in Rome has DIVAE SABINAE A[VG(ustae)] SABRATHE[NSES] EX AFR[ICA] (CIL VI, 40528). It is not clear whether there is any relation with the statio.[4]
The large, solid black areas in the two halves of the front room remain a mystery. Was something set on top?
(1) Aurigemma 1940.
(2) MacKinnon 2006.
(3) Bertrandy 1987.
(4) Cf. Brennan 2018, 191.