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 ARGO
#Fresco fr.
House of Meleager #Pompeii
4th style
#Tablinum
1AD
#ArchaeologicalMuseum #Naples | MANN
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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 🏺