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Roman, late Imperial to Byzantine period, ca. 4th to 5th century CE. A magnificent mosaic from the Kimbros cycle featuring a banquet scene of several figures surrounding a semi-recumbent female on a kline, all delineated in hundreds of colorful stone tesserae. The Kimbros cycle is a series of mosaics depicting events in the childhood and education of a young man named Kimbros, a person otherwise absent from historical record. In the far left of this panel are 2 groups of 2 letters that seem to spell "LOOS" - a reference to the name Loios, the male personification of the month of July, who may be seated to the right of the inscription. The name of Kimbros's sister, Theodora, is inscribed in Greek at the bottom of this panel, beside the name Nosos, who is the personification of sickness or disease and typically portrayed as a winged female bust. Size of mosaic: 60.75" W x 27.5" H (154.3 cm x 69.8 cm); of matrix: 62" W x 29.1" H (157.5 cm x 73.9 cm)

The seated woman to the far right may be Kyrilla who is shown seated by a bed with Nosos hovering above in 2 other panels.

Fifteen of the biographical panels of Kimbros are known, all in private hands. They chronicle Kimbros's life in a particularly meticulous way, showing his birth to a wealthy family, his early life and participation in activities of the household, the trials and hardships of childhood, and ultimately how he is led on the path of learning by various teachers. These impressive narrative panels are some of the only visual materials we now have depicting the Roman paideia - the rearing and education of children to help them become ideal members of the empire.

Mosaics (opus tesellatum) are some of our enduring images from the Roman world, not only for their aesthetic beauty, but also because they reveal what Romans chose to depict and see every day decorating their private and public spaces. This example is abstract in its intention and presents the ancients' keen eye for design and fascination with geometry. In the Roman province of Syria, which encompassed most of the ancient Near East/Levant, mosaics seem to have developed as a popular art form relatively late, with most finds coming from the 3rd century CE or later. Syria was one of Rome's wealthiest provinces, but it was also far removed from Rome itself and Roman culture was overlaid on enduring cultural traditions from Hellenistic Greece and the great civilizations that came before it. For example, Antioch-on-the-Orontes (modern day Antakya, Turkey), was the capital of northern Roman Syria, and its excavations in the 1930s revealed more than three hundred mosaic pavements. Popular mosaic themes from this region were often mythological or religious scenes, depicting gods and goddesses; however, sometimes mosaics were created to fit the theme of a building or room.

Other panels from the Kimbros cycle have been published in "'Culture's Visual Culture: The Iconography of Education and of Intellectual, Musical and Literary Pursuits in Roman Art" by Bjorn Christian Ewald in "Was Ist Bildung in Der Vormoderne?" Ed. by Peter Gemeinhardt, Pp. 109-165. Studies in Education and Religion in Ancient Pre-Modern History in the Mediterranean and Its Environs, 4., 2019, as well as 2 articles by Sarah E. Cox: "Paideia's Children: Childhood Education on a Group of Late Antique Mosaics" in Hexperia Supplement 41, 2007 and "Bringing Up Baby: Five Unpublished Panels in the Kimbros Mosaic Series" XII Colloquio AIEMA, Venezia, 11-15 September 2012, ATTI, 2015.

Provenance: private New York, New York, USA collection; ex-private prominent Daryl Kulok collection, New York, USA, acquired in the 2000s

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#175472

Set in a modern plaster matrix with a metal frame. Fragment of a larger piece with losses to upper areas, as well as along left periphery. Some expected nicks and chips to tesserae. Otherwise, great remaining imagery and nice pigments.