Iconography and Re-Reading af a Gallo-Roman Mosaic with Multiple Decor of Vienne (Narbonensis)

Abstract

A large number of isolated panels of mosaics, discovered during the nineteenth century, have been preserved, sometimes forgotten in private collections and have not been studied. In many cases, we do not know their exact provenance. In the present article, we propose to study a panel of mosaic representing a deer, whose provenance is probably Vienne (Gallia Narbonensis) and is now kept in a private collection. This panel, according to comparisons with the other mosaics found at Vienne and in the two suburbs of SainteColombe and Saint-Romain-en-Gal, seems to belong to a multiple decor pavement mentioned by Adrien Blanchet in the Inventaire des mosaïques de la Gaule in 1909. The mosaic of the deer is certainly a panel disappeared after its discovery in 1867. We propose a new interpretation of the decor placing our panel with those from the same pavement still preserved in the archaeological museum, (church Saint-Pierre de Vienne): The four seasons, a lion, a dog, Theseus abandoning Ariadne and Ariadne asleep.

Keywords

• mosaics
• opus tessellatum
• deer
• roman gaul
• gallia narbonensis
• vienne