Orpheus mosaics are found throughout the Roman Empire, normally in large Roman villas. The scene normally shown is Orpheus playing his lyre, and attracting birds and animals of many species to gather around him. Orpheus was a popular subject in classical art, and was also used in Early Christian art as a symbol for Christ.[2]
The standard depiction in Roman mosaic scenes (for the Romano-British variant see below) shows him seated and playing a lyre or cithara, wearing a Phrygian cap, often beside a tree, and includes many animals drawn and pacified by his playing. The fox was considered Orpheus's special animal and may be placed beside him. In large examples the animals spread to occupy the whole floor of a room. Titles such as Orpheus Charming/Taming the Beasts may be used.[3] Usually the whole scene occupies the same space, but sometimes Orpheus and the animals are each in compartments separated by borders with geometrical decoration.
An example of the usual composition with animals in the 6th-century Gaza synagogue is identified as David by an inscription in Hebrew, and has added royal attributes.[4] Another adaptation is a Christian mosaic of Adam giving names to the animals (Genesis 2: 19–20) in a church of around 486–502 in Apamea, Syria.[5] Some of the mosaics seem to relate to the rather elusive philosophical or religious doctrines of Orphism.[6]
In Byzantine mosaic large scenes with animals tended to be hunting scenes (one of the largest being again at Apamea). These are, at least initially, drawn from the popular venatio ("hunting") displays in the amphitheatres, where a variety of exotic beasts were released to fight and be killed.[7] Despite the contrast in atmosphere, the Berlin mosaic from a house in Miletus manages to combine both a venatio and an Orpheus with animals in its two parts.[8] An arena programme recorded by Martial combined an acted-out scene of Orpheus charming the animals with the punishment of criminals by damnatio ad bestias.[9]
^"Orpheus Mosaic – Turkey and Dallas Museum of Art"
^Hachlili, 74
^Hachlili, 72-74; Henig, 153
^Hachlili, 72-74
^Hachlili, 74
^Henig, 152, but see Drijvers, H. J. W., Cults and Beliefs at Edessa, p. 191, 1980, Brill Archive, ISBN 9004060502, 9789004060500
Orpheusmosaics are found throughout the Roman Empire, normally in large Roman villas. The scene normally shown is Orpheus playing his lyre, and attracting...
all living things and even stones with his music (the usual scene in Orpheusmosaics), his attempt to retrieve his wife Eurydice from the underworld, and...
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the House of Theseus and the House of Orpheus, all with superb preserved mosaic floors, especially an Orpheusmosaic. In addition, excavations have uncovered...
is the so-called diaeta of Orpheus, an apsidal room adorned with a remarkable Orpheusmosaic. As was usual, it shows Orpheus playing the lyre beneath a...
occupied by a later churchyard. The villa's most famous feature is the Orpheusmosaic, the second largest of its kind in Europe and one of the most intricate...
there depicted are an Orpheusmosaic, Alexander the Great's Hunt and the Four Seasons. In 1913 the Zliten mosaic, a Roman mosaic famous for its many scenes...
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Retrieved 28 March 2015. Graham Thomas (2000) The Romans at Woodchester OrpheusMosaic at Woodchester "Woodchester Endowed Church of England Aided Primary...
former art librarian at Bristol City Libraries. He reassembled the OrpheusMosaic in Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery. Central Bristol Through The...
Kitharoidos. Painted plaster, Roman artwork from the Augustan period. OrpheusMosaic in Rottweil Alcaeus of Mytilene playing a cithara while Sappho listens...
context, the King of spades was often known as "David". King David as Orpheus, mosaic of Gaza synagogue, AD 508. Museum of the Good Samaritan near Ma'ale...
traces of human settlement going back to 2000 BC. Roman baths and an Orpheusmosaic of c. AD 180 date from the time of Roman settlement. The present town...
transferred to Hull and East Riding Museum in 1976. The mosaic consists of three panels. The first depicts Orpheus, the second is known as the 'painted ceiling'...
is occupied by a churchyard. The villa's most famous feature is the Orpheusmosaic, the second largest of its kind in Europe and one of the most intricate...
the large Orpheusmosaic, showing the god playing his harp to an audience of trees, animals and birds. As Paul MacKendrick puts it, the mosaic is rather...
agricultural buildings, and three bath-houses. Five large mosaics have been found at the site. The Orpheusmosaic is one of thirteen examples of this subject from...
there is an Orpheusmosaic, while another features Bacchus, a cockerel-headed man, gladiators and a dome-shaped building. The largest mosaic, in two parts...
centre and the name written below in Albanian. The emblem depicts the Orpheusmosaic found in the Dardanian city of Vendenis. Flag of Rahovec Municipality...
in combat. Orpheusmosaics, often very large, were another favourite subject for villas, with several ferocious animals tamed by Orpheus's playing music...
items are from Prusias Ad Hypium. A 1st-century sarcophagus, Orpheusmosaic, the mosaic of Achilles and Thetis and the 2nd-century copy of Tyche and Plutus...
punishment of the Titans, but makes no mention of the anthropogony, or Orpheus, or Orphism. In his essay On the Eating of Flesh, Plutarch writes of "stories...
was lost in the railway construction. Two mosaics were removed, one of which, known as the OrpheusMosaic, is now in the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery...