The 2000-year-old shell grotto was used as an outdoor dining room and features a sizeable wall mosaic featuring brightly colored shells, coral and glass.Emanuele Antonio Minerva/MiC
Posted on 12/21/2023 8:21:12 AM PST by SunkenCiv
A five-year dig into the side of Rome's Palatine Hill yielded treasure last week when archaeologists discovered a deluxe banquet room dating from around the first or second century BC, featuring a sizable, intact and brightly colored wall mosaic.
Estimated to be around 2,300 years old, the work is part of a larger aristocratic mansion, located near the Roman Forum, that has been under excavation since 2018.
Almost five meters long (16.4 ft) and featuring depictions of vines, lotus leaves, tridents, trumpets, helmets and mythological marine creatures, the mosaic scene was painstakingly created using mother of pearl, shells, corals, shards of precious glass and flecks of marble. The piece is framed by polychrome crystals, spongy travertine, and exotic, ancient Egyptian blue tiles.
What makes this discovery "unmatched," said archaeologist Alfonsina Russo, head of the Colosseum Archaeological Park in charge of the site, is not only the incredible conservation of the mosaic, but its decoration which also features celebratory scenes of naval and land battles likely funded — and won — by an extremely wealthy aristocratic patron who commemorated the victories on their walls.
The intricacy of the mosaic's depictions of victory have surprised the team working on the project. They show a coastal walled town with lookout towers and loggias — which Russo said could be an ideal or a real-life location — sitting atop a cliff designed with pieces of travertine rock. Scenes of sailing ships with raised sails also feature, alongside depictions of mythical sea monsters swallowing enemy fleets...
The chamber, deemed a "jewel" by Russo, was an outdoor banquet hall overlooking a garden, likely used during summer to entertain guests.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
The 2000-year-old shell grotto was used as an outdoor dining room and features a sizeable wall mosaic featuring brightly colored shells, coral and glass.Emanuele Antonio Minerva/MiC
Thanks for the link!
Nice!
The Margate shell grotto in England is something like that:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_Grotto,_Margate
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/margate-shell-grotto
More evidence that “la dolce vita” has always been at the core of Italian culture.
Looks like they found Ariel’s palace.
I think the Margate shell grotto was built by an autistic guy who lived nearby, but that’s only a guess.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/4009373/posts
The story I read suggested that it was a kind of ‘folly’ he had made to provide wages to local people at a hard time...
Sounds like this wealthy aristocrat ran a piracy operation.
Wow... 
And without any SuperGlue!
No one knows how or who or when. There’s not any local folklore about it, no one in the area had known it was there. There are not any posh houses, nor have there been probably since Roman times, nothing at all is nearby. The shells had to be transported in some quantity and over some distance, unless there was a big-assed deposit of shells piled up near the site due to natural forces. It might be interesting to dig a deep test pit to see if the local subsoil happens to contain a lot of shells, which would be anomalous, but would be a step in the right direction.
Even the people ‘running’ it now don’t know much - but they have a shell shop :-)
https://www.shellgrotto.co.uk/discover
https://www.shellgrotto.co.uk/shop
“The Shell Grotto” would be a great name for a Unix/Linux shop.
LOL!
700BC, not AD.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
