A spectacular mosaic hidden beneath Rome for almost 2,000 years will open to visitors following a major archeological excavation. Discovered under Oppian Hill, close to the Colosseum, the artwork covers a subterranean wall measuring 10 meters high and 16 meters wide. Its scenes include a bearded philosopher, a centaur and a young poet receiving a laurel crown. Archeologist Francesco Pacetti told The Times of London that the team believes it could be “the biggest wall mosaic ever found in the Roman world”. Dating to the first century A.D., the mosaic may have belonged to an affluent Roman home or Emperor Nero’s Domus Aurea palace. It was eventually sealed beneath the vast public baths built under Emperor Trajan. The surviving artwork contains life-sized figures, columns, and striking blue sections made with gemstones. It also portrays a mysterious port city, although experts remain unsure whether it depicts a real location or an imaginary one.
Read it at The Times
