Case e mosaici a Privernum. Parte I. La domus dell’emblema figurato

Again, so-far-unpublished essay by M.L. Morricone on Privernum, this time about the elegant polychrome floor of the triclinium of the domus of the figured Emblem which stands out for its large coffered entrance and a pseudo-emblem with a frame with theatrical masks and a shoot of a plant enclosing a figured scene (the finding of Danae’s arck?), which, although mutilated, has remarkable artistic value, with its intricate composition and execution. This essay marks the end of the author’s investigative studies on the vermiculata of Privernum, that had already been published in earlier issues of this journal, and, in order to provide an appropriate, updated setting to these precious figured mosaics, now an overview of these late-Republican residential developments is provided in the form of a general picture, the result of time-consuming investigations and archaeological research, which illustrates the architecture and the remaining mosaics of the two luxurious palaces of Privernum and casts a glance on the local aristocratic society of the late I century B.C. The presentation of the “houses and mosaics in Privernum” is divided into two parts: the first one, about the domus of the figured Emblem, with M.L. Morricone’s contribution, the second one about the domus of the Nilotic entrance and its just-discovered mosaics with geometric patterns. (Résumé auteurs)