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Introduction The mosaic in room 1 The mosaic in room 40 The finds from room 40 Some other finds |
The floor of most of room 40 is covered by a polychrome mosaic. It has been dated to the third quarter of the second century.
View of the mosaic. Photo: Nationale Informationsstelle zum Kulturerbe NIKE.The mosaic in the front part of the room measures 5.91 x 2.95 m. A zone along the lateral walls and the back wall (1.00-1.10 m. deep) has no mosaic, presumably because dining couches (or cupboards for books?) were standing on top. In the centre of the room is a hexagon with Bacchus discovering the sleeping Ariadne on the island of Naxos (or a Satyr discovering a Maenad or a hermaphrodite?). This scene is flanked by two hexagons with winged amorini holding a vessel and a shepherd's staff (pedum).
Bacchus and Ariadne. Photo: Rebetez 1992, Abb. 13.The surrounding area is made up of more hexagons, containing tondos. In the tondos surrounding Bacchus and Ariadne are theatre masks and three busts, two female and one male (or all female?). One of the masks is a tragic mask, the other two are of Silenus and Pan, companions of Bacchus. The busts might be portraits of members of the family owning the villa (or are we looking at some of their ancestors?). We may see the owner directly behind the entrance of the room, below Bacchus and Ariadne. In the remaining tondos are vegetative motifs.
Top row: a winged amorino, Silenus; second row: Pan, tragic mask; third row: female bust, male bust; bottom row: female bust, vegetative motif.
The male bust on the third row might represent the owner of the villa. Photos: Gardiol-Rebetez-Saby 1990, Figs. 15-21, Rebetez 1992, Abb. 22.In the rear part of the room is an apse. In front is a mosaic of two animals flanking a krater (3.06 x 0.97 m.). The krater refers to wine. The animals may be panthers, from the train of Bacchus. Inside the apse are a polychrome vessel flanked by tendrils, and a geometric black-and-white mosaic (2.47 x 0.895 m.). There may have been a further dining couch here, semicircular.
The mosaic in and in front of the apse. Photo: Gardiol-Rebetez-Saby 1990, Fig. 14.
Introduction
The mosaic in room 1
The mosaic in room 40
The finds from room 40
Some other finds
[16-Nov-2023]
