Worcester Hunt Floor Mosaic
Culture
Antioch
Culture
Roman
Dateearly 500s
Mediumcubes of marble and limestone embedded in lime mortar
Dimensions625.8 x 716.2 cm (246 3/8 x 281 15/16 in.)
ClassificationsMosaics
Credit LineExcavation of Antioch and Vicinity funded by the bequests of the Reverend Dr. Austin S. Garver and Sarah C. Garver
Terms
Object number1936.30
DescriptionFigure of a hunter in center, possibly a Byzantine ruler, or mythological personage surrounded by animals, outside panels show scenes from the chase. Found in villa destroyed by earthquake in 526.Figure of a hunter in center, surrounded by animals and hunting vignettes. A different fruit tree in each of the four corners. From the House of the Worcester Hunt, Daphne. -Kondoleon
Label TextThis pavement, excavated from a villa at Daphne, a resort in the hills above ancient Antioch, depicts the hunting of dangerous game, an aristocratic pastime represented in mosaics and other media throughout the Roman world and commonly at Antioch. At the center stands a hunter ringed by animals in a pattern much like that of an oriental carpet. Hunters on foot and horseback attack a variety of animals with sword, spear, and bow and arrow, a weapon used by Parthians and Persians to the east. Situated near the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, the great city of Antioch became a confluence for cultural influences from western Greco-Roman traditions as well as eastern Persian sources. While the dress style in this work is that of Hellenistic Greece, the ornamental use of nature and the figures' stiff poses derive from the art of ancient Parthia (now northern Iran). The animals, portrayed more naturalistically than the human figures, are used to fill compositional voids in a decorative fashion, resulting in the flat, two-dimensional creation characteristic of Antioch.ProvenanceExcavation at Antioch, October 5, 1936; Daphne-Harbiye, Sector 27-P
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