Sunday, February 27 saw the re-opening of the popular Roman House at Rabat.
The Domus Romana (discovered in 1881), formerly known as the Roman Villa, incorporates some very fine first century BC mosaic pavements. The artistic richness of these mosaics indicates that this was inhabited by some upper class Roman (patrician). The artistic influence is decisively Hellenistic (Greek influence) synonymous with the Roman art of that period. It seems that these pavements were composed by some itinerant foreign artists, possibly from Antiochia in Syria, Pergamum in Asia Minor and Alexandria in Egypt (see Gouder 1983).
Two main techniques were used: the Opus Tessellatum and the Opus Vermiculatum.
The first technique is made up of small rectangular pieces of coloured stone or marble. An example of this type of technique can be observed in the composition of the borders showing a three-dimensional effect Meander design.
The second technique - Opus Vermiculatum - consists of tiny curvilinear pieces of coloured mosaic; hence the term verme (Italian for worm). This technique provided these artists the "facility" to create those picture-like frames known as emblemata.
These emblemata were composed in stone or terracotta matrices. These were placed at the centre of the room and were then surrounded by the various mosaic borders. The most notorious emblema found in the Domus Romana is the one depicting two birds resting on the rim of a brass bowl; measuring 66.2cm. This subject "partly" reproduces "the theme of a famous emblema by the renowned Greek artist Sosos, active in Pergamum in the second century BC" (Gouder, 1983), depicting a scene of a banquet. The "doves" emblema is still located at the centre of the peristyle's (Peristilium) mosaic pavement. The peristyle was a courtyard surrounded by 16 columns of the Doric order.
The main focus of this article regards one of these emblemata found at this site. The emblema generally taken as an allegory of autumn shows a naked boy holding a bunch of grapes and a pomegranate accompanied by a duck and a bird; it measures 63cm by 57cm.There are several scholars who doubt this interpretation; for instance the allegory of seasons in Roman art started to appear after the second century AD (see Caselli 2002). It could be that this emblema represents a classical mythological subject. The naked boy may be no one other than the representation of the Roman god of wine Bacchus (see Caselli 2002). In this emblema he is being shown as a child.
The kind of fruit depicted in this emblema, mainly the bunch of grapes and the pomegranate, may somewhat be connected with the cult of Bacchus: "The vine, ivy and the pomegranate were the sacred symbols of Bacchus represented in a variety of forms and ages" (see W. Wertelecki, M D 2004 PandoraWordBox.com).
Grapes are an obvious symbol for the god of vines. The pomegranate is also mentioned in classical myths connected with Bacchus's (Greek Dionysus) infancy: "The Titans seized the newborn son of Zeus and, despite the fact that he transformed himself repeatedly to evade them, they captured Dionysus and tore him into shreds. A pomegranate tree sprouted from the soil where his blood had fallen" (http://www.thanasis. com/dionys.htm).
The original pomegranate, according to Greek mythology, was a beautiful nymph who had been told by a soothsayer that she would one day wear a crown. She was transformed into a pomegranate tree by Bacchus, god of wine, and a crown was placed at the top of her fruit (pomegranate; www.healmarketplace.com).
Another emblema generally taken to be connected with the cult of Bacchus found at the Domus Romana is the one showing two nymphs punishing a satyr. Both types of classical mythological creatures accompanied Bacchus during his rites.
This was found in the area which most probably was the original main entrance to the house. One of the mosaic borders that used to surround this emblema also shows a garland of fruit (including the pomegranate and the grapes), flowers and theatrical masks.
It seems that the owner of this house, apart from having had a fine taste in art, as synonymous with most of the respectable upper class Romans, also had a fine taste in wine and food; at least according to the subjects depicted by these gorgeous emblemata found in this Domus Romana.
The Domus Romana is an exquisite archaeological jewel possessed by the Maltese people.