Image Details

Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY

CLOSE PARALLEL, DISTANT CITY. This border detail of the so-called “Tiger-Rider” mosaic floor from the House of the Faun in Pompeii offers us a glimpse of what the Dor mosaic may have looked like. Although there are no other examples from Israel, mask-and-garland motifs were common border decorations in the Hellenistic world. Martin and Stewart believe that the Dor mosaic adorned the floor of a room similar to an andron, or “man’s room,” where, in the Greek world, guests were hosted to symposia of dining, drinking and other lively entertainment.