Abstract
“Note sugli emblemata musivi di Agrigento” is the title of De Miro’s contribution on Agrigento’s Hellenistic-Roman Quarter’s vermiculata. Focusing exclusively on the most famous decorative panel of the residential quarter, a gazelle admiring its reflection, the scholar describes it as a ‘work of extraordinary delicacy of execution’ depicting ‘a scene of refinement typical of Alexandrian Hellenism’ and omits the other two specimens found in the same residence. These latter, both of Hellenistic workmanship, are briefly described in the museum guide and said to represent birds (fowls), a hen (or rather a rooster) and a rooster with a fruit
basket. Starting from iconographic observations followed by non-invasive archaeometric examinations, the present contribution tackles the question of why, in the second century C.E., vermiculata depicting cockerels were integrated on the floor with the four seasons in this prestigious house in Agrigento. In order to answer
these questions, it is necessary to release them from the definition of xenia and recognise the economic and emotional values of the artefacts and the subjects they represent.
basket. Starting from iconographic observations followed by non-invasive archaeometric examinations, the present contribution tackles the question of why, in the second century C.E., vermiculata depicting cockerels were integrated on the floor with the four seasons in this prestigious house in Agrigento. In order to answer
these questions, it is necessary to release them from the definition of xenia and recognise the economic and emotional values of the artefacts and the subjects they represent.
| Original language | Italian |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Atti del XXIX Colloquio AISCOM |
| Place of Publication | Roma |
| Publisher | Edizioni Quasar di Severino Tognon |
| Pages | 519-529 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-88-5491-449-0 |
| Publication status | Published - 2024 |
Keywords
- Agrigento, urban houses, domestic decorations, opus vermiculatum, glass tesserae