A Personalized Floor Mosaic from Pompeii

Abstract

The secondary atrium of an elegant house in Pompeii north of the Porta Marina (Region VII, Insula Occidentalis 12-15) once contained a black-and-white mosaic in opus tessellatum. At each corner of the impluvium was placed a clear representation of an urceus of Pompeian Form VI, the type which, as shown by painted inscriptions on actual vessels, was customarily reserved for the four Roman fish sauces. The urcei of the mosaic likewise bear tituli picti identifying them as jars for garum and liquamen; three of the four labels also mention Aulus Umbricius Scaurus, the wealthy Pompeian fish-sauce producer and merchant known from other sources. The importance of this mosaic, which on stylistic and historical grounds can be dated ca. 25-35 A. C., is threefold. First, the placement of the mosaic vessels is unique among black-and-white atrium mosaic floors of the first century A. C. Second, the type of vessel and its accompanying titulus enable one to identify the owner of the house. Third, the mosaic design has an obvious utilitarian purpose of advertisement and is, therefore, a rare, unequivocal example of a motif inspired by the patron rather than by the artist.