Unknown Maker, Roman

In the prosperous city of Antioch, images of the wine god Bacchus and his followers were commonly used in domestic contexts, reflecting wine-rich Roman banquets as well as the Antiochene preoccupation with luxury and pleasure. This image of Silenus (follower of the wine god) is from an opulent villa at Daphne, a suburb of Antioch; it was once part of a larger floor pavement. To make these vividly colored images, small pieces of colored stone (tesserae) were set into mortar. Their naturalistic treatment of the human form reflects the influence of Hellenistic artistic tradition on Roman style. During their excavation a coin minted during the reign of emperor Constantine was found beneath these mosaics, indicating that they were created between the years 325 and 330 CE.