Excavated: 1912 (NSc 1912, 243; Vaglieri).
Mosaic: SO IV, 67-68 nrs. 90-91, tav. 172 (top).
Inscription: ---.
Date: 190-200 AD (SO IV). Vaglieri reports the find below the mosaics of a bronze coin of Marcus Aurelius, dated to 171 AD.
Meas. of tesserae: 0.015-0.02 (SO IV).
Mosaic
General descriptionThe floor of the back room has been largely preserved, only the margins are lost. It consists of two sections, an eastern and a western one of more or less equal size, both with a geometric motif. The eastern panel is surrounded by black bands of varying width on the north, south and west side, the east side is lost. In the passage between the front and back room is a wide black band.
The north side of the front room is bordered by a fairly narrow black band. In the central part of the band is a line of one row of white tesserae, slightly to the south of the axis of the central column. Perhaps it imitates a marble line. The south side is bordered by a very wide black band, containing a small white lozenge according to Becatti (today a triangle can be seen), and with a curious round protuberance at the east end. It is set against a narrow, white marble band on the axis of the central column, separating stationes 8 and 9. The west part of the mosaic in the front room is lost.
TextNo text has been preserved. It may have been in the west part of the front room, which would be unusual however.
DepictionsIn the back room the eastern part consists of black hexagons and squares. The western part consists of alternating black and white semicircles. In the middle of the front room are two dolphins facing each other. Above the right one is some small, black object. The left one is emerging from two more or less square masses of black tesserae, set against the northern border of the room. The back part of this animal's body is more or less straight, while the other dolphin has a curved back part. It is difficult to say whether the two black masses above and below the left dolphin belong to the original scheme, or are a later restoration. The model does not have the black mass above the left dolphin.
Becatti
Geometric design. Due diversi motivi decorativi: quella Est è a fondo nero con un disegno lineare bianco costituito da quadrati i cui angoli sono riuniti a quelli dei quadrati adiacenti con segmenti bianchi incrociati, in modo da delimitare degli esagoni allungati sul fondo nero ai quatrro lati del quadrato, che formano in giro un ottagono di cui ogni quadrato è il centro. L'altra metà Ovest è decorata uniformemente da un motivo di squame unite l'una all'altra in senso longitudinale Nord-Sud e alternativamente mezze bianche e mezze nere, con il motivo dell'embricazione.
Dolphins. Due delfini affrontati, con dettagli bianchi per gli occhi, le pinne, la linea dorsale e le pieghe del corpo.
Masonry
The back room has a rear wall of opus latericium with a vertical joint in the north part. The south and north wall are of opus vittatum: mixtum B to the north, simplex to the south (two layers preserved). There is a kink in the north wall, making the east part of the room slightly narrower. Vaglieri's plan shows a similar kink in the north wall of statio 10. The north wall forms an entity. The east part of the mosaic coincides with the narrower part, and takes it into account, because it is moved slightly to the south. The model does not have the kink in the north wall, but instead a bench set against the east part of the north wall.
The north wall and the joint in the back wall are opposite a space between rooms c-d and e-i to the east of the square. The joint might be related to the situation to the east.
Interpretation
The two mosaic compartments in the back room suggest diverse, but related functions. Perhaps a table and chairs were placed in the back part. The kink in the north walls of the back rooms of stationes 9 and 10 accentuates the back part.
The solid, black areas above and below the left dolphin should be easy to explain, but it looks as if a vital clue is lost. All we can say is that the left dolphin seems inactive within an enclosure, while the other is freely swimming.
There was no mosaic inscription in the front room. There may have been an inscription over the entrance. The minimal depiction and the absence of a mosaic inscription are reminiscent of the situation in statio 7. The situation is reminiscent of that in statio 7, and perhaps stationes 7-9 were used by people working at a more overall level, but at a local level, in view of the occupants of stationes 1-5. We may think, for example, of the grain merchants (corpus mercatorum frumentariorum) in statio 7, in view of the depiction of a grain measure, and ship builders (corpus fabrum navalium) in statio 9, in view of the depiction of two dolphins. The former guild is documented in the marble inscriptions from the square.