Careful observation of the subjects represented in the floor mosaics of the Villa Romana del Casale offers a precise decorative project that links the scenes that animate the various rooms.
It is evident that the owner of the late antiquity residence wanted to illustrate not only the life and culture of the time, but his virtus, expressed in various examples of the victory of good over evil and reason over irrational passions.
Strength is associated with cunning in the realistic hunting scenes described in the latifundium or in the extreme regions of the Empire. Self-celebratory intention is also found in the mythological mosaics, especially in the triapsidal triclinium, which hosts Hercules’ heroic victory over his adversaries.
Likewise, depictions of generic scenes can also be read as an expression of the wealth and, at the same time, benevolence of the dominus.
