GEOMETRIC MOSAIC, C. 140-150 CE. EXCAVATIONS UNDER THE OSPEDALE DI S. GIOVANNI Domitia Lucilla, as a widow, took a keen interest in the economic life of her estate, making it not just comfortable but profitable. Far from the gardens and the residential buildings, she ordered the construction of a moderately-sized, but not small, fullonica or washhouse. This took advantage of the large amounts of aqueduct water available in the area for rinsing, but the whole process involved vast amounts of urine collected from the public latrines, in order to break down the cloth fibres to full it, that is, to make it hold together better. It was stinky work and slaves had to spend their days treading the dirt (ammonia in urine is also a cleaning agent) out of white clothes, up to their knees in pee. When they stepped out, at least they had this lovely mosaic of black half-circles and white incurved hexagons to walk on.

For #MosaicMonday we are on the #Lateran estate of the #domusAnniorum in #Rome. The enterprising noblewoman Domitia Lucilla, mother of #MarcusAurelius, built a #fullonica or washhouse on the edge of the property, and had it paved with this huge black and white geometric #mosaic. #AncientBluesky 🏺

FISTULA PLUMBEA WITH THE NAME OF DOMITIA LUCILLA, AFTER 124 CE. EXCAVATIONS UNDER THE OSPEDALE DI S. GIOVANNI DOMITIAE LUCILLAE = of Domitia Lucilla This senatorial noblewoman, rich from inheriting her mother's brick factory north of Rome near modern Bomarzo, married Marcus Annius Verus, brother-in-law of the emperor Antoninus Pius. She was widowed in 124 and in her own right made many alterations to the huge estate, part villa, part domus, of her husband's family. Here we see part of a long lead pipe that brought water to the copious fountains of the estate, stamped in two places with her name. She raised her two children, Marcus Aurelius and Annia Cornificia Faustina, in this house, and educated a young nobleman alongside Marcus, the future imperial candidate Didius Julianus.

For #EpigraphyTuesday, we're in the #domusAnniorum, the house of the Annii Veri near the #Lateran in #Rome, to see a lead pipe stamped clearly with the name of Domitia Lucilla, mother of the emperor #MarcusAurelius, noblewoman and entrepreneur.

MOSAIC PAVEMENT, LATE C3-C4 CE. EXCAVATIONS UNDER THE OSPEDALE DI S. GIOVANNI IN LATERANO This detached and fragmentary mosaic pavement comes from a room facing onto a garden, in a small domus backing onto the huge domus of the Annii Veri and possibly, at the time of the making of this mosaic, incorporated into the larger domus, by then part of the imperial demesne. It has a geometric design with black blocks set in a brick pattern surrounded by "mortar" in white mosaic. The border has black and coloured designs including four busts representing the Seasons, of which one and a half survive. Here we see the probable figure of Winter, head in a white hood.

For #MosaicMonday we're underground to discover the aristocratic district of #domus around the #Lateran in #Rome, including this C3-C4 CE #mosaic in a small house next to the #DomusAnniorum. The human bust emerging from an #acanthus plant is a Season, probably Winter. #AncientBluesky 🏺