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Orpheus is enchanting the animals by his music

A mosaic floor depicting the Thracian musician Orpheus decorates one of the rooms of a luxurious Roman Villa in Sparta. Orpheus wears oriental clothes. He is seated on a rock and is surrounded by animals and birds (lion, boar, turtle, snakes, duck, peacock etc.), which he tames with the sound of his lyre. Decorative zones surround the central panel with the representation.

Caption Mosaic floor from Sparta with Orpheus enchanting the animals by his music

Mythic people Orpheus (Musician)

Type Mosaic

Artist/Creator local workshop

Origin Roman Villa, Sparta (Kontantinou Palaiologou & Dioskouron Street)

Current position Museum "House of Mosaics", Sparta

Index number ΟΤ40

Dating late 3rd -early 4th c. AD

Notes

Οικία των Ψηφιδωτών | House of mosaics, Το ψηφιδωτό του Ορφέα

Panayotopoulou, A. (1998). Roman mosaics from Sparta. British School at Athens Studies, 4, 112–118.

(βλ. σελ. 115-116)