The Mosaic of Virgil is a mosaic found on the site of the ancient Hadrumetum and currently preserved in Bardo National Museum in Tunis, where it constitutes one of its key pieces. It is currently the oldest portrait of the Latin poet Virgil.
History The mosaicA. 226 was discovered in 1896 in a garden of Sousse and constitutes the emblem of a larger mosaic.
Description It is included in a frame of 1.22-meter side.Hédi Slim, Ammar Mahjoubi et Khaled Belkhodja, Histoire générale de la Tunisie, tome I " L'Antiquité ", éd.
Central character
It represents the Roman poet Virgil, dressed in a white toga decorated with embroidery.
The poet holds in his hand, which is placed on his knees, a roll of parchment on which are written extracts of the Aeneid, more precisely the eighth verse:Aïcha Ben Abed-Ben Khader, Le musée du Bardo, éd. "Musa, mihi causas memora, quo numine laeso, quidve..."
Muses He is surrounded by the muses Clio and Melpomene: Clio, the muse of history, is placed on the left of the poet and shown reading, while Melpomene, the muse of tragedy, is holding a tragic mask.
Interpretation The work is the oldest known representation of the poet to date. Some have seen it, according to Mohamed Yacoub, a representation of the owner of the house, passionate about the poet. The dating of the pavement ranged from 1st to 4th century but can not exceed the 3rd century, due to the archaeological context of its discovery according to the same author.Mohamed Yacoub, Le Musée du Bardo : départements antiques, éd. Agence nationale du patrimoine, Tunis, 1993, pp. 153–154
See also
List of ancient Romans Outline of ancient Rome Roman mosaic Wheelock's Latin
References
Bibliography Aïcha Ben Abed-Ben Khader, Le musée du Bardo, éd. Cérès, Tunis, 1992 Mohamed Yacoub, Le Musée du Bardo : départements antiques, éd. Agence nationale du patrimoine, Tunis, 1993 Mohamed Yacoub, Splendeurs des mosaïques de Tunisie, éd. Agence nationale du patrimoine, Tunis, 1995
External links Paul Gauckler, « Mosaïques découvertes à Sousse », CRAI, vol. 40, n°6, 1896, pp. 578–582 Jean Martin, « Le portrait de Virgile et les sept premiers vers de l'Enéide (pl. XIII-XIX) », Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire, vol. 32, n°32, 1912, pp. 385–395 Gérard Minaud, « Des doigts pour le dire. Le comput digital et ses symboles dans l'iconographie romaine », Histoire de la mesure, vol. XXI, n°1, 2006 M. Nowicka et Z. Kiss, « Autour du portrait de Virgile à Sousse », Studia i Prace, vol. 15, 1990, pp. 303–307