Excavated: 1912 (GdS 1912, 106 (April 15); NSc 1912, 210-211, with 211 fig. 6; Vaglieri).
Mosaic: SO IV, 68-69 nr. 93, tav. 174 (bottom).
Inscription: CIL XIV S, 4549 nr. 11.
Date: 190-200 AD (SO IV); ca. 190 AD (Clarke).
Meas. of tesserae: 0.015 (SO IV).
Mosaic
General descriptionThe floor of the back room has not been preserved. There are some white tesserae in the passage between the front room and back room with a black band (four tesserae wide) running west-east near the north jamb. The band does not connect with the band in the front room, there are white tesserae in between.
With the exception of the west end, the entire floor of the front room has been preserved. On the north, west and south side is a black frame, four tesserae wide. To the west of the frame are white tesserae with a black patch in the centre. The south side of the frame is set against a thin line of white marble (a bit to the south of the axis of the central column), the north side is at some distance from a line of marble (on the axis of the central column). On the south side the east end of the black band is missing, there are white tesserae, presumably of an ancient restoration. In this corner half a donut seems visible in the white tesserae.
In the frame are the following components: a single line of text; two tondos enclosing a head; an amorino on a dolphin; two dolphins. The entire scene is not in the centre of the room, but set somewhat to the south.
TextAt the east end of the front room is a single line of text, that does not have a frame or a tabula ansata (h. of letters 0.20):
NAVICVLARIMVIIV[---] (right half of last V missing)
Vaglieri reads:
NAVICVLARIMV[1]LV[2]A[2]HIC
while his drawing shows:
NAVICVLARIMVSLV[2]A[2]HIC (upper part of last A and right part of last C missing; the appearing of the S on the drawing is a bit suspect)
Wickert reads:
NAVICVLARIMVLIV[6]HI[---] (an L or I behind MV)
Becatti reads:
NAVICVLARIMVILV[---] (as shown on his photo)
Vaglieri suggests:
NAVICVLARI MV[S]LV[(V)IT]A[NI] HIC
so suggesting that the final V was not written out (even though there is space for six letters according to Wickert)
Vaglieri suggests the city Musluvium, modern Sidi Rehane on the coast of Algeria. Originally it was part of Mauretania Caesariensis, after reforms by Diocletian of Mauretania Sitifensis. In the Itinerarium Antonini it is called Muslubio, on the Tabula Peutingeriana Muslubio Horreta, and in the Ravenna Cosmography Muslubion Orea. Horreta and Orea are to be understood as Horrea. We accept Vaglieri's suggestion, because De Graauw's catalogue of ancient ports offers no solution for MVI.. and MVL.., and only Musluvium for MVS.. .[1]
Suggested reading:
NAVICVLARI MVSLV(V)ITANI HIC
Depictions
Vaglieri and Becatti describe the depictions as follows. The left, female head is preserved badly. Becatti identifies a few black tesserae in the right part of the tondo (now lost) as a pruning knife. The right tondo is in the middle of an "ugly ancient restoration" and contains a female head crowned by grain ears, with a grain ear on top of her left shoulder and a pruning knife on top of her right shoulder. Becatti identifies the two heads as the seasons Summer and Spring or Autumn, recalling Africa and the import of grain. Comparison of the drawing published by Vaglieri with later photos shows that much was added to the left head by a later restoration, while the restoration of the right head was not really a success.
Depictions of the four seasons are common. One nice parallel, from the fourth or early fifth century AD, was found in the House of Bacchus in Complutum, near Madrid, Spain.[2] Clockwise, starting top left, we see Spring, Winter, Autumn and Summer. Spring is a young woman with a wreath of flowers in her hair. Winter is depicted as a hooded female figure with a plant. Autumn wears a leopard skin draped over his left shoulder and a wreath of red grapes and leaves in his hair. Summer is depicted with grain ears in her hair and a pruning knife. Similar depictions of the seasons are very common.
A white line on the left head in statio 11 suggests that the figure is hooded. This leads to the identification of the two heads as Winter, hooded and with an unidentified object, and Summer, with pruning knife and grain.
Below the tondos is a naked, winged amorino holding a whip and riding a dolphin. A bad ancient restoration removed part of the arm and part of the whip. The amorino is the child-god Palaemon, guardian of ships, associated with Portunus, god of harbours.[3] Below Palaemon are two dolphins. Horizontal lines indicate the sea.
Becatti
Tondos. Due medaglioni delimitati da un cerchio nero entro il quale sono due busti, quello di sinistra per metà lacunoso (oggi restaurato) con un volto femminile di prospetto con tracce di un falcetto sopra alla spalla sinistra (oggi scomparse). Quello di destra raffigura un analogo busto femminile di prospetto con testa coronata di spighe, un falcetto che spunta sopra alla spalla destra e una spiga alla sinistra.
Amorino on dolphin. Un Amorino nudo, alato, che cavalca un delfino, tenendo nella mano destra alzata una frusta. Pochi dettagli bianchi e goffo il disegno.
Dolphins. Due delfini affrontati, quello di sinistra ha una coda terminante in pinna tripartita, quello di destra in cinque elementi filiformi frutto di un goffo restauro antico, quando si è rifatto il lato destro del mosaico con parte della coda del delfino. Una linea ondulata bianca sottolinea la sinuosità dei corpi.
Masonry
The back room has a rear wall of opus latericium. The south wall and north wall are of opus vittatum simplex (three layers preserved). On Vaglieri's plan the north wall has a double width. A row of holes is passing through the back wall.
Interpretation
Hardly anything is known and has been published about Musluvium. The harbour depended on a hinterland around Sitifis, capital of Mauretania Sitifensis (it was at the end of a road from Sitifis).[4] In this area olive oil, grain and wine were produced. Perhaps wood was exported.
As to the commodities that were transported by the navicularii: Ostia-Portus had a special Forum Vinarium, so we can rule out wine. The two seasons presumably refer to cargoes. Olives are harvested in the autumn or winter, grain is harvested in the summer. The skippers from Musluvium were then involved with the export of olive oil and grain. This functional interpretation is confirmed by the selection of only two out of the four seasons that are normally depicted. There is no space on the floor for the other two seasons. There is something peculiar about the mosaics however. The two tondos, the amorino riding a dolphin, and the two other dolphins are represented in the scheme that is seen often on the square: heraldic objects or animals, combined with a single depiction on the axis. But surprisingly the tondos and the amorino are drawn from the traditional, mythological repertoire, not seen elsewhere in the east porticus. We are not just looking at a few olive branches and grain ears, but at metaphores.
Musluvium is in Mauretania Caesariensis. On the opposite side of the square is a statio (nr. 48) that was used for the entire province Mauretania Caesariensis. It has been argued that this office is related to the import of fish and fish sauce. This may explain why Musluvium, importing oil/grain, has its own office.
(1) A. de Graauw, Ancient Ports - Ports Antiques, catalogue.
(2) Eckersley 1995.
(3) Hawthorne 1958.
(4) Stone 2014, 578.