Venationes at Iasos

Abstract

A corridor pavement of the House of Mosaics in Iasos shows the theme of running animals, which is known in central Italy in the I-II century in the black-and-white version, and which is very common in Western Asia Minor, particularly in Caria (Halikarnassos, Iasos, Orthosia), for a wide period since the second century AD. The aim of this paper is to discuss different problems related to this kind of mosaics: the artistic point of view, the possible identification of workshops, the meaning of such a theme, above all in relation to the Iasian mosaic. In this respect, it is important that the Iasian pavement has been unearthed very recently and that the study of its archaeological context is in progress. To define the chronological range of the Iasian mosaic, the stylistic and iconographic study will be combined with the analysis of the pottery found in the layers underneath the floor and in the layers above it.

Keywords

• iasos
• mosaics
• hunt scenes
• dating
• pottery analysis