Saturday, June 26, 2010

Skull Mosaic from Pompeii, 30 B.C. — 14 A.D.


Skull Mosaic from Pompeii

Skull Mosaic from Pompeii[1] (House cum workshop I, 5, 2, triclinium).30 B.C. — 14 A.D. Inv. 109982. Mosaic Collection Naples of the Naples, National Archaeological Museum (inv. nr. 109982).

The mosaic represents the Wheel of Fortune and reversal of fortune. When turned it can make the rich (symbolized by the purple cloth on the left) poor and the poor (symbolized by the goat right) rich. It also marks precariousness, death lurks in every age, and life is hanging by a thread: if it breaks, it flies from the soul (symbolized by the butterfly), making all equal.

via upload.wikimedia.org
Found on Jahsonic.

4 comments:

melina bee said...

absolutely stunning, I love this blog.

Oscar Devonian said...

I would like this for my bedroom wall.

Owen said...

That is truly fabulous... what a find. Thanks for sharing this !

Anonymous said...

This is actually used in the opening credits of ROME by HBO. Very cool. I always wondered what it meant but I thought it was just a made up graphic.