Mosaic with Nilotic scene
Type:
Mosaic / Intarsia
Year:
Second half of the 1st century BC
Material and technique:
Marble and glass paste tesserae
Origin:
Rome, Via Nazionale - excavations for the construction of the Palazzo delle Esposizioni (1882)
Inventory:
AC 4956
The mosaic depicts a scene set along the banks of the Nile. The presence of priests feeding a crocodile wearing a wreath of roses evokes the ritual festivals held in the Egyptian city of Crocodilopolis in honour of the crocodile god Sobek.
Masterpieces of the hall
The hall
The precious objects that were brought to Rome from Greece and the Hellenistic world as spoils of war from the IInd century BC onwards influenced the fashions of the richest classes, introducing luxury objects produced to these models, to the private sphere.
