medieval worlds • no. 10 • 2019
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Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Austrian Academy of Sciences Press
A-1011 Wien, Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2
Tel. +43-1-515 81/DW 3420, Fax +43-1-515 81/DW 3400 https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at, e-mail: verlag@oeaw.ac.at |
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DATUM, UNTERSCHRIFT / DATE, SIGNATURE
BANK AUSTRIA CREDITANSTALT, WIEN (IBAN AT04 1100 0006 2280 0100, BIC BKAUATWW), DEUTSCHE BANK MÜNCHEN (IBAN DE16 7007 0024 0238 8270 00, BIC DEUTDEDBMUC)
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medieval worlds • no. 10 • 2019 ISSN 2412-3196 Online Edition ISBN 978-3-7001-8663-2 Online Edition
Elisabeth Rathmayr,
Veronika Scheibelreiter-Gail
S. 184 - 198 doi:10.1553/medievalworlds_no10_2019s184 Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften doi:10.1553/medievalworlds_no10_2019s184
Abstract: The article deals with inscriptions on the floor mosaics of a residence in Skala on the island of Cephalonia. The archaeological context of the inscriptions, their representation and legibility as well as their contents will be addressed. In at least two rooms, inscriptions have been combined with depictions that give insights into the beliefs of the residents. One shows the personification of Envy, depicted as a damnatus ad bestias, which was common in amphitheatrical scenes on mosaics in imperial times, another a sacrifice of three animals (trittoia), which is only seldom depicted and also rarely documented in epigraphy and literature; to date, the picture in the villa of Skala together with a mention in a play by Aristophanes are the only sources for this sacrifice in the private realm of a house. Moreover, the depiction probably refers to a real sacrifice made on the outskirts of the villa. The commissioner of the inscribed mosaics was certainly the homeowner, who is recorded by his name Krateros in two mosaic inscriptions in the house. He was probably identical with Lucius Pompeius Krateros Cassianus, a member of a third-century-AD elite family from Elis known from inscriptions found in Olympia. Although both the figurative representations on the mosaic floors and the length of the inscriptions are unusual, they have received too little attention so far. The nearest parallels are to be found in the mosaic art of Patras, only a short distance away across the sea, where a whole series of comparable mosaics came to light, especially during emergency excavations. The mixture of »Greek« and »Roman« in the depictions of the mosaics in the villa in Skala could be explained by a mosaicists’ workshop from Patras, a Roman colony founded by Augustus, where such depictions might have developed. Keywords: Cephalonia; Skala; villa rustica; mosaic inscriptions; Roman Imperial times; domestic religion; sacrifice of three animals; phtonos; apotropaic; self-presentation Published Online: 2019/11/28 20:43:06 Object Identifier: 0xc1aa5572 0x003b0d8c Rights: .
medieval worlds provides a forum for comparative, interdisciplinary and transcultural studies of the Middle Ages. Its aim is to overcome disciplinary boundaries, regional limits and national research traditions in Medieval Studies, to open up new spaces for discussion, and to help developing global perspectives. We focus on the period from c. 400 to 1500 CE but do not stick to rigid periodization.
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Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Austrian Academy of Sciences Press
A-1011 Wien, Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2
Tel. +43-1-515 81/DW 3420, Fax +43-1-515 81/DW 3400 https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at, e-mail: verlag@oeaw.ac.at |