DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.37251#0307
GALLERIA SUPERIORE 1. 4, 5
271
and maeander of acanthus (see no. 18), and the whole composed the
pavement of a bathroom. The Zw/Azd? are fine, the colours bright and
harmonious.
It was a favourite subject for the ornamentation of bathrooms, and
this mosaic resembles the one from Pompeii both in style and design, and
also the mosaic of the age of Sulla in the Temple of Fortune at Palestrina
(R. Delbruck, ZazzAzz z'zz Za/zzzzzz, i, p. 59, fig. 50). It may
be surmised that this type of mosaic, which recalls the AzZoVra/a of Sosus
of Pergamon (Plin. A. A. xxxvi. 184), originated in the Hellenistic period.
Found July 21, 1888, in the garden of the church of S. Lorenzo in
Panisperna (Via Cimarra). Formerly in Mus. Cap., ZAzzzz.? ZHz'<?zz<? %
ZZ/Az Z(AAw<3 ZVnrr., p. 45, no. 9).
Zzz/A few. xvi (1888), pp. 263, 479 ; AW. Aaza, 1S88, p. 437 ; HefbigS, p. 570.
5, LION BOUND BY EROTES IN THE PRESENCE OF HERACLES
(pi. 107).
H. -793 m., Br. .712 m.
The colours are bright and the minute ^y.fZAzg highly polished.
A tawny lion reclines on a sandy bank above a small stream fringed
with plants. Three Erotes have twisted a long rope round his body and
paws. On the r. the first holds a piece of drapery or the end of the rope ;
the second, a pair of cymbals; while the third, on 1., has a syrinx. To
the r. a thyrsus leans against the hillside; and beside the stream is an
overturned vase. In the background rises a pyramid and a wall with a
palm tree behind it. To the 1. of the pyramid stands a bearded man, the
upper part of his body nude, and a grey drapery like a woman's twisted
round his lower limbs. He holds a distaff and is engaged in twisting the
thread. On the ground to his r. are a red shield and a club. To the 1.
is a building with a pediment, a temple or shrine. The mosaic evidently
represents Heracles as the slave of Omphale, and the bound lion is thus
symbolical. The lower part of the composition was probably derived
from a picture of the Hellenistic period, and we are told that Arcesilaus,
a contemporary of Caesar, made a marble group of a lioness bound by
Erotes (Pliny, TV. A. xxxvi. 41, Overbeck ii, pp. 482 ff.). The figure of
Heracles, here an inharmonious addition to the composition, was probably
adapted from a statue in the round.
A mosaic picture in the British Museum (ZzzZ HzA. Aa/A, N. S. iv,
p. 37, pi. II) seems the more faithful reproduction of the same original.
Here, in the place of Heracles, we have in the background the statue of
a divinity (Dionysos ?) on a raised base, so that the composition comes
within the class of Rostowzew's ' Sakrallandschaften', i. e. of idyllic
landscapes which acquire a sacred character from the presence of a
temple, a sacred image, &c. The Erotes have better and slenderer
proportions, and added to their number is a fourth, who stands before the
lion and pulls the long cord attached to the beast's hind leg.
The subject is repeated in a mosaic in Naples (Azzy. ZazAzzz'aa, vii,
pi. 61), with similar but more elaborate details.
Found in 1749 in the remains of a villa in the Selva Parnhli near
Porto d'Anzio (Ficoroni, ap. Fea, AZyaZ/azzga, i, p. clxiv, no. 93). Pre-
sented by Marchese Angelo Gabrieli to Benedict XIV, by whom it was
271
and maeander of acanthus (see no. 18), and the whole composed the
pavement of a bathroom. The Zw/Azd? are fine, the colours bright and
harmonious.
It was a favourite subject for the ornamentation of bathrooms, and
this mosaic resembles the one from Pompeii both in style and design, and
also the mosaic of the age of Sulla in the Temple of Fortune at Palestrina
(R. Delbruck, ZazzAzz z'zz Za/zzzzzz, i, p. 59, fig. 50). It may
be surmised that this type of mosaic, which recalls the AzZoVra/a of Sosus
of Pergamon (Plin. A. A. xxxvi. 184), originated in the Hellenistic period.
Found July 21, 1888, in the garden of the church of S. Lorenzo in
Panisperna (Via Cimarra). Formerly in Mus. Cap., ZAzzzz.? ZHz'<?zz<? %
ZZ/Az Z(AAw<3 ZVnrr., p. 45, no. 9).
Zzz/A few. xvi (1888), pp. 263, 479 ; AW. Aaza, 1S88, p. 437 ; HefbigS, p. 570.
5, LION BOUND BY EROTES IN THE PRESENCE OF HERACLES
(pi. 107).
H. -793 m., Br. .712 m.
The colours are bright and the minute ^y.fZAzg highly polished.
A tawny lion reclines on a sandy bank above a small stream fringed
with plants. Three Erotes have twisted a long rope round his body and
paws. On the r. the first holds a piece of drapery or the end of the rope ;
the second, a pair of cymbals; while the third, on 1., has a syrinx. To
the r. a thyrsus leans against the hillside; and beside the stream is an
overturned vase. In the background rises a pyramid and a wall with a
palm tree behind it. To the 1. of the pyramid stands a bearded man, the
upper part of his body nude, and a grey drapery like a woman's twisted
round his lower limbs. He holds a distaff and is engaged in twisting the
thread. On the ground to his r. are a red shield and a club. To the 1.
is a building with a pediment, a temple or shrine. The mosaic evidently
represents Heracles as the slave of Omphale, and the bound lion is thus
symbolical. The lower part of the composition was probably derived
from a picture of the Hellenistic period, and we are told that Arcesilaus,
a contemporary of Caesar, made a marble group of a lioness bound by
Erotes (Pliny, TV. A. xxxvi. 41, Overbeck ii, pp. 482 ff.). The figure of
Heracles, here an inharmonious addition to the composition, was probably
adapted from a statue in the round.
A mosaic picture in the British Museum (ZzzZ HzA. Aa/A, N. S. iv,
p. 37, pi. II) seems the more faithful reproduction of the same original.
Here, in the place of Heracles, we have in the background the statue of
a divinity (Dionysos ?) on a raised base, so that the composition comes
within the class of Rostowzew's ' Sakrallandschaften', i. e. of idyllic
landscapes which acquire a sacred character from the presence of a
temple, a sacred image, &c. The Erotes have better and slenderer
proportions, and added to their number is a fourth, who stands before the
lion and pulls the long cord attached to the beast's hind leg.
The subject is repeated in a mosaic in Naples (Azzy. ZazAzzz'aa, vii,
pi. 61), with similar but more elaborate details.
Found in 1749 in the remains of a villa in the Selva Parnhli near
Porto d'Anzio (Ficoroni, ap. Fea, AZyaZ/azzga, i, p. clxiv, no. 93). Pre-
sented by Marchese Angelo Gabrieli to Benedict XIV, by whom it was