sight
Beyond the curtain covering the entrance to this reception room, located in the private area of the Peristyle, the eye was caught by the multitude of colours of the mosaic tiles on the floor, as it is today. It depicts all the stages of hunting party with dogs involving the dominus with his family and some servants. The scenery is that of the rich and lush landscape that surrounded the late antique residence, with the species of trees present in the woods at that time. Starting from the top, a man and two greyhounds are depicted advancing in the hunt with agility. A few cypresses hide the flight of a fox being chased, with an increasingly dynamic rhythm, by other hounds. Notice the rendering of movement that is also evident in the swelling of the hunter’s purple cloak.
Below, the action seems to stop with the celebration of a country sacrifice with high-ranking people. Accompanied by servants, they are arranged near an altar placed in front of the effigy of Diana, goddess of the hunt. The bright colours of the protagonists’ robes stand out for their colourful rendering! If we look down a little further, an open-air breakfast occupies much of the area between two registers. The atmosphere is relaxed as the protagonists, surrounded by servants busy with other work, sit on a large semi-circular sofa in front of the canteen, sheltered by a red curtain. If we look down again, the scene becomes even more dynamic with fox and hare hunting. A hunter on horseback has spotted the hare and is preparing to shoot it. At the end of this magnificent glimpse into life in the villa, deer and wild boar hunting is depicted. In a more rocky and less verdant natural setting, it is the setting for the more demanding moments of this activity, reserved for the family of the dominus and his entourage.
hearing
The first scene is portrayed in such detail that it feels like you can hear the hounds pacing over the sloping woodland and the hunters’ footsteps making their way through the agave-like bushes. In the near distance you can hear the screeching of a hawk resting on the shoulder of a bird catcher, waiting for visible prey, while a lively crackle comes from the brazier of an altar where resin and incense are burning for the country sacrifice in front of a statue of Diana, the goddess of the hunt. Below, the representation of an open-air breakfast seems to be animated by the voices of the diners and the trampling of horses’ hooves, resting under the trees.
After resting, the hunt resumes in the scenes below. The breath of a dark-coated hound becomes laboured. It has its jaws wide open in an attempt to catch a fox, before it disappears among the rocks and, at the same time, a hare hides in a bush, causing the leaves to rustle loudly.
The landscape of the scenes below is less flourishing and the footsteps of the hunters and their steeds become more muted. The beaten earth muffles the gallop of three horses, ridden by horsemen in pursuit of three large deer, whose long antlers are now destined to become entangled in the mesh of a large net. In a patch of marshland, a wild boar is heard screeching, now hunted by dogs and hunters, after having wounded a man lying on the ground with his broken spear.
smell
As well as being a place of otium for the hunting parties of the dominus and his family, the wood surrounding the villa was home to lush vegetation consisting of a wide variety of tree species of which useful evidence has been found even today, thanks to specific research.
They are realistically represented in this room’s mosaic floor and, if we think back in time, we can almost smell the caramelised scent of the holm oaks and the aromatic fruits of the carob and juniper trees. The intense smell of resins and incense, burnt on the altar in front of the effigy of Diana, spreads through the air as if to underline the importance of the propitiatory rite that accompanied the art of hunting. The scene in the central part of the mosaic conveys to the observer the tranquillity of an open-air banquet, imbued with the spicy smells coming from the table and the equally pleasant smells of the food in the baskets.
