2,300-year-old shell mosaic discovered in Rome (6 photos + 1 video)
Category: Archeology, PEGI 0+
28 December 2023
Archaeologists excavated a banquet hall decorated with bright wall mosaics. The richly decorated room was part of an aristocratic house built about 2,300 years ago on the slope of the Palatine Hill in Rome. 
The luxurious home is located near the central forum - an ancient market traditionally considered the heart of Rome, along which temples and government buildings were located. Experts believe that the house belonged to the aristocratic family of the senator.
Video: The Colosseum, a new house discovered between the Roman Forum and the Palatine.
The intricate mosaics feature scenes depicted using sea shells, azure, pieces of glass, colored marble and other stones.
“The mosaic is truly exceptional,” said Alfonsina Russo, director of the Archaeological Park of the Colosseum in Rome. “It is something new that inspires us to learn more and more about this part of the Palatine, which is a site of great importance in the history of Rome.”
Rousseau noted that the banquet hall and mosaic were discovered during a five-year excavation in the area where Agrippa's famous warehouses were located, built by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, a friend and son-in-law of the first Roman emperor Augustus. Augustus himself and several subsequent emperors also owned large houses on the Palatine.
Agrippa ordered the construction of warehouses in 33 BC. e., when he was elected aedile of the city - the position of magistrate, which was then given to the one chosen by Augustus.
Archaeologists believe the house, called a "domus" in Latin, dates back to Rome's late Republican period, about 100 years earlier, when the northwestern part of the Palatine Hill was used as residences for senatorial families.
The banquet hall is a "specus aestivus" - a room shaped like a cave. It was used during the hot summer months and was equipped with lead pipes through which water flowed in the fountains.
Mosaic covers the end wall. It is over 4.8 m long and depicts vines, lotus leaves, weapons, pastoral scenes, and sea and land battles. Probably, these paintings hint at the victories of the owner of the domus, who could be both a politician and a military leader.
Archaeologists also discovered a reception room covered in white plaster, which contained landscapes, figures and decorative elements.
The multi-story mansion was built in at least three stages, the oldest dating from the second half of the 2nd century BC. e., and the last one - the end of the 1st century BC. e.
