Villa Romana del Casale (Piazza Armerina, Sicily, Italy) : Mosaics: Detail of a floor mosaic in an unidentified room

Creator:

unknown (Ancient Roman)

Published/Created:

Villa Romana del Casale, Piazza Armerina, Sicily, Italy
ca. 310-325

Date Depicted:

10/20/1997
8000 BC - 499 AD

Materials:

mosaic

Notes:

The villa contains some 45 rooms, nearly all of them still paved with mosaic (or in one case marble) flooring preserved in situ. It is estimated that the total area of mosaic paving covers about 3500 sq. m, more than in any other known single building in the Roman Empire. Internal stylistic links between individual pavements not only suggest close contemporaneity but also strengthen the likelihood that most if not all of the floors were laid by a single workshop; and close parallels in North Africa for pavement after pavement in the Sicilian villa demonstrate beyond all reasonable doubt that the mosaicists who worked at Piazza Armerina were based in Africa, almost certainly at Carthage. The subject matter is very diverse and includes hunting scenes, mythological scenes, marine scenes, circus and chariot scenes, children and cupids, fantastical animals and geometric decorative schemes.

Variant Titles:

Roman villa at Piazza Armerina: Mosaics

Topics:

Architecture -- Italy -- Roman -- (YVRC)

Culture:

Roman

Accession Number:

1A3-R-S-VE-8-F5

Genre:

mosaics (AAT)
villas (AAT)

Format:

Image

Content Type:

Furnishings & Decorative Arts
Sculptures, Models, & Architecture

Rights:

Copyright Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc
The use of this image may be subject to the copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) or to site license or other rights management terms and conditions. The person using the image is liable for any infringement.

Access Restrictions:

Yale Community Only

Digital:

animals; decorative arts; mythology (Classical); recreation and games; festivals; Roman Empire mosaic complexes; sites (locations); archaeological sites; excavations (sites); visual works; mosaics (visual works) mosaic; geometric pattern

Source Creator:

Gilchrist, Scott

Source Title:

Archivision Module Three

Source Created:

2878 Chamonix, Montreal QC
Archivision, Inc.
10/20/1997

Source Note:

Purchase, Visual Resources Collection, May, 2011; photographer Scott Gilchrist

Yale Collection:

Visual Resources Collection

Digital Collection:

Visual Resources Collection

Local Record Number:

4152

OID:

10160150

PID:

digcoll:1826027