Gladiatorial mosaic found in Libya

[Dan Diffendale]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0, ... 31,00.html

too bad the pic isn't bigger...

[richsc]

At least it will be in the July-Aug edition of Minerva.

[Johnny Shumate]

Can you make out any of the details? Looks like the manica comes only to the elbow.
Johnny

[Gashford]

Difficult to see much of anything.

I have scoured teh web to see whether or not I can find a better image, nothing yet, sadly.

Can't wait to get a better picture of this one, be nice to see some colour work with details.

[Musivarius]

Nice looking piece, whether or not it is really comparable to the Alexander Mosaic remains to be seen, I think I'd like to see a clearer photo. I'm chasing up the mosaic school in Ravenna to see if they've got any images but if anyone manages to get any photos of this mosaic (or any gladiator mosaic) I'd be very interested to come to some arrangement with them. They need to be taken on a flat plane and all the tesserae need to be visible.I went onto the Lepcis Magne museum website, took the virtual tour but went home early as all the galleries were shut! Hopefully Minerva has more information.

[Antonius Lucretius]

it is a beautuful and pathetic image. The artist was obviously a master, even judging from that distance. The perpective renderging of the dead gladiator is very surprising for the times and looks almost Renaissance --the times when perspective was scientifically studied and applied in art.
The exhausted survivor seems to carry on his shoulders all the intensity and drama of the very violent event that just happened. I've seen many a gladiator mosaic but this one is the most magnificent as far as craftmanship is concerned.

[Arthes]

Greetings,
Is that the head of the gladiator lying on the ground still in his helmet and was that usual, for the opponent to be beheaded?
Is that a broken gladius lying at his feet or the head of a spear in the hand of the other guy...?
I have to agree that this is very realistic and yes, beautiful and sad. It does look more like a painting, I wonder maybe it was a friend or relative of the mosaicist who is depicted here?
Having a real fascination with faces of the past I am also looking forward to being able to see this more clearly...!
Regards
Arthes

[Uwe Bahr]

Cristina,

I think the head of the fallen gladiator is yet on his body but only fallen back into the neck, so it is only a question of perspective that there is only his chin visible. Obviously the sitting gladiator was a retiarius with his trident lying in the back of the scene. And - due to the humble picture we have up to now - the object before the trident could be also the lacking shoulder shield of the retiarius as well as it could be the helmet of the victim.

All in all I agree totally with You, it is a very fine scene. The victorious survivor of the fight is sitting as if he was like a Philosopher analyzing the sence of his doing - or just being exhausted from a terrible fight.

Greets - Uwe, also impatiently looking forward for better pictures ...

[Uwe Bahr]

... my apologies, for unknown reason I posted the same comment twice :? ( ?

Uwe

PS: ... and the reason is not that I wanted to increase my number of total posts, really! :wink:

[Musivarius]

If anyone is intrested I don´t think we´ll be seeing any clearer images of this mosaic anytime soon. Apparently it has been lifted and taken to the Mosaic Museum but because when they built this museum they did not allow extra space for any future finds this mosaic, as well as being poorly restored is hanging on a wall outside and with bits of plywood over it to stop illegal photography(?????)
So there you have it.
Lawrence

[john m roberts]

Time for a revival. It's now been more than two years since we first heard of this mosaic. Has anything been published about it? Are there any decent pictures available?

[Medusa Gladiatrix]

It is in the new Junkelmann book, one large picture on the front endsheet and on page 182, picture 314. I'll translate roughly the caption:

"After the fight. In Leptis Magna there was recently one of the most impressive gladiatorial depictions found in the bath of a villa. It is a mosaic dating from 2nd century, which shows on the left side a victorious left-handed secutor who sits exhausted on the floor. Opposite of him lies the corpse of a retiarius. The weapons of both combatants are lie scattered on the sand, which concludes that there had been a wild hand-to-hand fighting. The secutor has taken off his helmet so we could see his long blond hair and his face which shows exhaustment and mourning. Together with the realistically shown corpse of his opponent this is a tragical site as it is far away from any triumphalism and from neutral technical depiction which is normally typical for gladiatorial iconography."

[A_Volpe]

It being in Libya means a possible, if remote, connection to Leg III Cyrenaica, and that makes me happy

The more info about 'my' Legion, the better!!

Can't wait to see better images of it...Can't wait to see what other 'secrets' will yet be revealed!

[john m roberts]

At least this clarifies things a bit. It looks as if the secutor wears the old-fashioned short manica. I know of only one other depiction, on a lamp, that shows a secutor with the short manica. I still want to see large, clear images of this mosaic. And there were other mosaics found at the site. Any pictures of them available?

[Sextus Aurelius Propertiu]

Hi,

Some new photos with more details and shades would be nice !!!

Sextus Aurelius Propertius

aka Eric-Alexandre POHER