Theseus Mosaic,4th Century
Theseus Mosaic from a Roman villa,Loigersfelder near Salzburg,Austria. According to the Greek myth,Ariadne,the daughter of the Cretan king Minos,fell in love with the young Theseus when he arrived from Athens to slay the Minotaur. The central picture of the mosaic shows the killing of the Minotaur by Theseus. The Cretan Labyrinth with its winding paths occupies most of the mosaic. Theseus safely makes his way out of the maze with the help of the red thread Ariadne has given him. In the upper picture,the hero boards the ship with Ariadne in order to return to Athens. Theseus,however,had forgotten to replace the black sails with white ones to signal his success. Sighting the ship from afar and thinking mistakenly that Theseus's expedition had failed,his father,Aegeus,threw himself into the sea. The picture on the right shows Ariadne in mourning on Naxos.
Size: 3750px × 3677px
Photo credit: © Science History Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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