GEOMETRIC MOSAIC PAVEMENT, C. 30 BCE. HOUSE OF LIVIA While there is much to suggest that the domus said to be of Augustus was never the house of Augustus, this coeval domus contains lead pipes stamped with the name of IVLIA AVGVSTA, Livia's name after the death of her husband, when Augustus posthumously adopted her into the Julian house and gave her the use of his title. It was already semi-subterranean at the time, as we can tell from the downward ramp in the entrance hall. The mosaics here are quite simple but elegant, in black and white, this one, between the atrium and the tablinum, a framed rectangle based on hexagons and triangles. Livia raised her great-grandson Caligula in this house, though they didn't seem at all fond of each other. I imagine him in his little boots walking across this mosaic.

A floor #mosaic from about 30 BCE, for #MosaicMonday, still in situ in the #HouseofLivia on the #Palatine in #Rome. This black and white geometric mosaic marks the threshold of the #tablinum of the house. Livia moved here after the death of her husband #Augustus. #AncientBluesky 🏺

IO AND ARGUS, 30 BCE. TABLINUM, HOUSE OF LIVIA On the right-hand wall of the central tablinum in the House of Livia is this mostly ruined central scene. Dimly visible in the background is a statue on a column, which is probably Zeus, the horny almighty troublemaker. In the foreground at centre is Io, a nymph and priestess of his wife Hera who Zeus fell in love with from afar. He knew Hera would resent any dalliance, so did the only logical thing: he turned her into a beautiful white heifer. However, Hera knew her husband only too well and set Io under the watchful guard of Argus, an all-seeing giant who chained her to an olive tree at the Heraion of the city of Argos. Here we see Io, in human form, sitting at centre, and the watchful Argus at right. Approaching from the left is Hermes, who is about to put Argus to sleep magically or by telling a really boring story, and will then slay him at Zeus' orders. Here he has the ordinary number of eyes but in most versions of the story he has three, four, or a hundred eyes (an optician's dream). After his death Hera puts his eyes on the tail of her representative bird, the peacock. Io has more travails in store, in heifer form, being tormented by a gadfly sent by Hera and having to swim from island to island in the Sea of Io, the Ionian Sea. Eventually Zeus bug-zaps the gadfly, turns Io back into a nymph and has his way with her. In none of this was her consent ever asked.

For #FrescoFriday we're on the #Palatine hill in #Rome, in the #tablinum of the #HouseofLivia, where #Freud would have something to say about the #column holding up the statue of #Zeus in this scene with the sexy priestess #Io and her captor #Argus. #ClassicsBluesky 🏺

HOUSEHOLD SCENE, C. 30 BCE. TABLINUM, HOUSE OF LIVIA I'll be honest, I can't figure out this scene at all. Three figures appear as if seen through a window with open shutters in the painted right-hand wall of the tablinum of the house of Livia on the Palatine. At left is a woman standing and facing right, pouring an amphora into a large silver or glass bowl, but I can't tell what is being poured. At centre is a herdsman with a sheep across his shoulders, which he carries with ease. At right is a seated woman facing left but looking out at us, with her hands held in parallel before her as if she is winding wool around them, which might be the case. She has a basket beside her. As her head is at the same level as the herdsman beside her, he must be on a lower step, perhaps approaching the seated woman for her approval before shearing this sheep's wool. Maybe the standing woman is preparing a dye or a wash for the woolen skein being wound by the seated woman. These homey tasks would certainly fit in with Livia's carefully cultivated image as a classic Roman matron, spinning and weaving wool.

For #FrescoFriday, a somewhat mysterious scene from a #fresco in the #HouseofLivia on the #Palatine in #Rome. This might be a simple scene of wool-winding and washing, but I feel as if I'm missing some possibly ritual, sacred, or even #Dionysiac significance. #ClassicsBluesky 🏺