Via an article by G.W. Bowersock in the New York Review of Books.
Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, click here to enlarge.Details of the exhibit are available directly from the Met, including a video about the discovery of the mosaic and a feature story, published by metmuseum dot org on 23 September 2010.
via romanhistorybooks.typepad.com
This is a spectacular Roman mosaic, now on exhibit for those within hailing distance of Manhattan and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I love mosaic art, modern and ancient. The image above is one small part of a larger collection found in Lod, Israel in 1996. It was created in 300 A.D.
I'm certain that I've seen this mosaic in classics texts. While the discovery may not be recent, the traveling exhibit is. It will be open through 3 April 2011.
Footnote: Does the mosaic image seem crooked to you? Perhaps it is a figment of my imagination (or astigmatism). Could it be due to parallax effect when the image was clipped and/or cropped?
Could it be that the mosaic was in a building that settled? I guess floors don't really settle in that way, retaining their flatness but shifting side-to-side. :-) In any case, it's either the camera or reality, because the mosaic is not square (in more ways than one). Your eyes are still okay. Wish mine were.
Posted by: Leopold Mozart | February 15, 2011 at 07:40 PM