Megalopsychia Border, Bottom: Villas and a Game
Part of the border of the Megalopsychia Hunt Mosaic, which depicts a "day in the life" of fifth-century Antioch and Daphne and provided a guided tour from one to the other. This section of the border is along the bottom as you face the Megalopsychia, as here (it would be upside down to the viewer).
This portion of the tour is in Daphne, the resort suburb of Antioch. The two buildings on the left are villas bearing the names of their masters (Heliades and Leontios), suggesting that the owner of this mosaic instructed the artist to include the residences of special friends. (See previous photo for a third villa.) Next to the second villa a servant (his status indicated by his short tunic) carries parcels. Next is a building labeled "The Public Bath," with a figure that may represent an honorific statue of the donor.
Next, a man sells refreshments from a table outside "The Covered Walk," a public place of recreation, which affords among other things an opportunity for a game resembling dominoes or checkers. On the right is the Workshops of the Martyrion, seen more fully and explained in this photo.
450-75 AD, Yakto village near Daphne. Antakya Museum, inv. 1016. Information from Glanville Downey, Ancient Antioch (1963), illustration 56.
