Fragment of floor mosaic depicting dancing boy
4th century
Physical Qualities
Stone and lime mortar, 49 x 24 in. (124.5 x 60.9 cm.); weight: 410 lbs.
Credit Line
Antioch Subscription Fund
Object Number
1938.711
Bacchus was the Roman god of wine and merriment, whom the Greeks call Dionysos. In this mosaic, Bacchus dances, raising a shepherd's staff overhead, and twists his body to conform to the space of the elliptical frame. His head is wreathed with large, spiky leaves, and his robust, sunburned body is covered by a spotted panther skin. When Bacchus travels, panthers or tigers pull his chariot.
Neiman-Marcus, Dallas, "Mosaics Old and New", September 1-18, 1954.
Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, Mass.,
"Art of the Late Antique", no. 59, p. 57 [listed as "Dancing Satry", 48 in. high]
Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, Mass.,
"Art of the Late Antique", no. 59, p. 57 [listed as "Dancing Satry", 48 in. high]
"Antioch-on-the Orontes, II, The Excavations, 1932-1936," Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1938, no. 87, p. 200, pl. 67.
Doro Levi, "Antioch Mosaic Pavements," Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1947, vol. I, p. 244f, vol. II, pl. LVIII-b
On View: Antioch Court
