Tripoli Museum Mosaic

[john m roberts]

Very much appreciated.
This is one of the few depictions of most gladiator types in full color.

Sadly the Provocators on this one seem to be quite elusive as they are seldom shown completely.

I've wondered about this myself. Most books and websites showing this mosaic use an old photograph in which the provocator on the right is eliminated. For years, the only complete picture I had was a very small one from an old Time-Life book on the romans. And they are such fascinating provocators, too: the "trousers" are clearly shown, and these are the only provocators in art to have crests on their helmets, and they are huge crests, too. The essedarii are more clearly depicted than usual, too.