Mosaic fragment with a Dionysiac procession

Unknown (Roman)

Item type:

mosaic

Date of creation:

late 2nd-early 3rd c.

Height:

67.3 cm  (26 1/2 in.)

Width:

67.9 cm  (26 3/4 in.)

Technique / Medium:

mosaic: limestone and glass tesserae

Place of creation:

Gerasa (deserted settlement, Al Urdun)

Description

This fragment includes images of two centaurs, one playing double aulos and the other possibly a lyre. Commentary from museum website:
This fragment (as well as 2004.2.1 and 2004.2.3–.5) was once part of a much larger mosaic on the floor of a triclinium (dining room) of a Roman house in Gerasa. In the procession, revelers accompany centaurs drawing Dionysos and his consort Ariadne on a cart. Below, Erato, muse of erotic poetry and mime, plays a lyre, while Euterpe, muse of lyric poetry, holds two auloi (reed instruments much like oboes). More than twenty other fragments of this floor exist today, the majority of which are in Berlin. The Yale University Art Gallery’s fragments were discovered in 1927, following earlier excavations in 1907.

Iconclass

48CC7351
aulos - CC - out of doors
48CC7321
lyre, cithara - CC - out of doors

Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)

Aulos [4173] (double)
Lyre [3501]

RIdIM images

Image URLs

image link 1

RIdIM record id

6182