Excavated: 1913 (no excavation report published; Vaglieri).
Mosaic: SO IV, 81-82 nr. 126-127, tav. 182 (middle).
Inscription: ---.
Date: 190-200 AD (SO IV); 200-210 AD (Clarke).
Meas. of tesserae: 0.015-0.02 (SO IV).

Photos and drawings:

Front room and back room (ss)

Front room and back room (dga)

Front room and back room (gh)

Front room and back room (from the west) (gh)

Front room and back room (gh2)

Front room and back room of stationes 51 and 52: top left; top right; centre left; centre right; bottom left; bottom right (Clarke 1979, fig. 41)

Front room of stationes 51 and 52 (from the south): top left; top right; centre left; centre right; bottom left; bottom right (Clarke 1979, fig. 41c)

Model of stationes 50-53 in the Museo della Civiltà Romana (Clarke 1979, fig. 36a)

Statio 52 + statio 51 (centre + right) (gh2)

Depiction (dolphin) (from the north) (Clarke 1979, fig. 41b)

Depiction (ship) (from the west) (middle) (SO IV)

Depiction (ship) (from the west) (Clarke 1979, fig. 41a)

Depiction (ship) (from the west) (jthb)

Depiction (ship) (from the west) (kh; 2013)

Mosaic

The floor of the rear one-third of the back room is lost. It is separated from the preserved part of the floor by a thin, black band, five tesserae wide. The ends are modern, so it is not clear whether it touched the side walls. Becatti also saw remains of a geometric design in the back room of this statio and 52. On NADIS inv. nr. 644 it is visible at the back end. It consists of small, alternating black and white triangles.

The floor of the remainder of the back room and of the west part of the front room has been preserved relatively well. On the north side the front room is bordered by a thin, black band, five tesserae wide, on the axis of the central column. The west and east end of the band are missing. There is no west-east band on the south side. In the back part of the front room is a long, north-south running black band, four tesserae wide. It stops at some distance from the north end of the statio. In the south it continues into statio 52.

In between the two north-south running black bands - those in the rear part of both the front room and the back room - are further bands, five tesserae wide. They create a frame that is not easy to complete. There is an east-west running band on the north side, at the west end continuing to the south. There is a north-south running band close to and to the east of the southern central column. At the north end it continues to the west, and then - shortly before reaching the other band - turns south again, so that it runs parallel to the other band. Within the frame a ship is depicted, to be looked at from the west. In the centre of the front room is a huge depiction of a dolphin, swimming to the left.

The band in the southern part of the passage between the back and front room is much closer to the central column than the one in the northern part. The reason for this is, that the southern column does not have a brick plinth, contrary to the northern one.

No text has been preserved.

In the centre of the front room is a huge depiction of a dolphin going to the left. In the passage between the front and back room, and in the east part of the back room is a ship, to be looked at from the west, going to the right. On deck we see five amphorae. Thin white lines on the body may represent stamps or painted texts.

To the left of the amphorae is a sitting man. In front of him is a trapezoid with five white lines. Between two of the lines is a tiny white triangle. The front part of the trapezoid is resting on two black legs. It also seems to be resting on one of the rudders. The legs of the man are below the trapezoid. According to Becatti the man is holding a rudder. His left arm might also be pointing at the cargo. His right hand is on a corner of the trapezoid.

Becatti suggests that the trapezoid is the roof of a cabin. According to Friedman the man is a tabulator, "taking records of the cargo by writing its account on a wax-tablet. The horizontal white strips on the black tablet indicate the noted record, as we also understand from the man's stretched left arm counting the jars, and holding a stylus in the other hand".[1] Neither interpretation is convincing, because of the position of the legs of the man (for the cabin) and the size of the trapezoid (for the wax-tablet). Could he be looking at the segments of a map?

Becatti
Ship. Una nave rivolta verso destra, dalla poppa ricurva con i due timoni poppieri, la cui barra è tenuta in mano dal timoniere, vestito di tunica, sommariamente rappresentato seduto a poppa; dinanzi è un tetto, forse fatto di assi disegnate in bianco, piuttosto che una tenda, e che serve di riparo, poggiato su quattro pilastri o piedritti; è cioè la caratteristica cabina poppiera. La prua è obliqua, sul ponte sono disposte varie anfore sferiformi con corto collo e due piccole anse; sul corpo qualche segno bianco che in qualcuna assume la forma di una M, ma, credo, senza un preciso significato. Rimane soltanto la parte inferiore dell'albero maestro con tutte le sartie che lo fissano ai fianchi della nave, con inizio di una scala a corda laterale; a prua è l'albero obliquo di bompresso con le relative sartie e le scotte della vela, che non è conservata.
Dolphin. Un grosso delfino dalla lunga coda serpeggiante terminante in tre pinne foliate, con parchi dettagli bianchi, con occhio circolare.

Masonry

The back wall of the back room is of opus latericium, changing with an irregular vertical joint to opus reticulatum at the south end. The north wall is of opus vittatum simplex. There is a very low south wall of uncertain masonry. This is not indicated on the plans of Vaglieri and Gismondi. It is probably modern, added to bridge the difference in height between stationes 51 and 52. The plans of Vaglieri and Gismondi show a wall or bench set against the rear wall and the west part of the north wall. It can also be seen on the model.

Interpretation

For the interpretation see statio 52.

(1) Friedman 2011, 13.