Floor Mosaic with Personification of a Sea Divinity

Roman art

This mosaic, displayed in the floor of Room 7 along with two similar ones of sea divinities, seems to be from a vast mosaic floor that would have decorated a room in a large Roman villa discovered in the eighteenth century on the Borghese estate at Castell’Arcione, along Via Tiburtina. The figure, which is heavily restored, is difficult to interpret: it might be a figure from the marine thiasos or a depiction of Nereus. It portrays the face of an older man, his head encircled by a garland of leaves. His short locks of hair merge with his thick beard, which is divided in two at the bottom. The figure’s melancholic, resigned expression is emphasised by the shape of his eyes and grim look. Based on stylistic analysis, the emblema might date to the third century.

Object details

Commentary

This mosaic depicts an older bearded man against a black background within a modern frame. He has greyish-blond hair and wears a garland of grey-green leaves on his head, similar in hue to the colouring of his beard, which is divided into two large locks at the bottom. His face is worn, with hollow cheeks, a flat nose and slightly open mouth. His eyes, which are slightly slanted downward, seem to have a sad expression. The portrait seems to express the melancholic sadness of old age. The fragmentary nature of the mosaic, which has also been heavily restored, makes it different to interpret. The presence in Room 7 of two other emblemata with sea divinities from the same site suggests that the mosaic portrays a figure from the marine thiasos or Nereus. The god is in fact depicted in the sources as an old sage. In Hesiod, we read: ‘And Sea begat Nereus, the eldest of his children, who is true and lies not’ (Hesiod, Theogony 233–235).

According to Marion Elizabeth Blake, the three mosaics were part of a large floor decoration along with two fishing scenes now in the floor of Room 5 (Blake 1940, p. 117). The latter decorated a Roman villa found in the eighteenth century on the Borghese estate at Castell’Arcione, on Via Tiburtina (Visconti, Lamberti 1796, p. 38; Mari 1983, pp. 250–251, 258-260; Moreno, Sforzini 1987, p. 345).

The three panels with sea divinities were inserted into the floor of the room when the residence underwent a major renovation in the late eighteenth century, a project led by the architect Antonio Asprucci (Visconti, Lamberti 1796, p. 74). Blake also advanced the theory, based largely on the use of a black, contrasting background and the irregular size of the tesserae, that the panels recall Hellenistic mosaic production, which first came to Italy in the third century CE, the period to which we can date the mosaic (Blake 1940, p. 107).

Giulia Ciccarello