MOSAIC FLOOR, C. 150-182 CE. VILLA DEI QUINTILI This massive suburban villa was built by the rich senatorial brothers Sextus Quintilius Valerius Maximus and Sextus Quintilius Condianus, who were held in such high regard by Antoninus Pius that he made them both consuls in 151 CE. Unfortunately their service and loyalty did not protect them from the envy of the last of the Antonines, Caracalla, who so badly wanted this luxurious property that he trumped up treason charges against them and put them to death in 182. He immediately took possession of the villa and adapted it to his own use; it remained an imperial property until the C6 and underwent many restorations and alterations. Here we have a short, semi-basement corridor with a simple geometric pattern of rows of black alternating triangles to create white hexagons between them, framed with a wide black mosaic border.

#MosaicMonday takes us into a corridor with linear #fresco decoration and an intact geometric #mosaic floor, c. 150 CE, in the stupendous #VilladeiQuintili along the #Appia south of #Rome. The villa was the cause of its builders' death: #Commodus had them killed and took it. #AncientBluesky 🏺