03-07-2017, 04:36 PM
(03-07-2017, 02:50 PM)Robert Vermaat Wrote: Gods are very often portrayed in mosaics - nobody seemed to mind they are on the floor either.
That's a good point.
Although I think the mosaic images of gods etc tend to be in mythological type scenes, rather than being objects of reverence in a temple or shrine. Was there a difference?
I would expect that a living emperor, being an embodiment of imperial cult (and especially with the later emperors being surrounded by such ritualised veneration) would not have been depicted as a rather ordinary grizzled man, on the floor... I suppose we could assume that Maximian himself owned the villa, but why would he have chosen to portray himself as part of the floor decoration?
This may well be a portrait, but if so I think it's more likely a local personage or a friend or retainer of the villa owner, rather than being the emperor. But we will surely never know!
Nathan Ross