At Villa Romana del Casale, 3,500m2 of the most fabulous Roman mosaics are on display, if only one can get there. Luckily for me, Nigel was prepared to hire a car, drive on the right and brave Sicilian roads and moreover Sicilian drivers.
For me, it was like meeting a film star - to see in real life these 4th century works of astonishing quality which I have often used to illustrate my teaching work.
I loved particularly the massive mosaic showing men catching big game such as tigers elephants and ostriches and putting them in cages to take back to the Collosseum.
What really strikes me most however, is the fact that the owner of such a magnificently rich and expertly crafted villa is now uncertain. It is possible it was Maximian, a kind of deputy Emperor alongside Diocletian.
It just goes to show that the pomp of this world will fade away. Unless of course, like the mosaics themselves, it gets trapped under a landslide. For that is the way they were so miraculously preserved for centuries.
In any case, the scale and quality of the surviving work was overwhelming and as we neared the end Nigel said,
'Well I'm glad you enjoyed that, but I am now completely mosaiced out!'
(Top pic may depict Maximian)
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