Venationes e miti classici nei mosaici della “Casa degli Struzzi” ad Hadrumetum (odierna Sousse, Tunisia)

In the House of the Ostriches in the Roman colony of Hadrumetum, the mosaic floors of the second phase –which can be attributed to the years immediately after the mid-3rd century – are marked by a total reorganization of the decoration. As in the previous phase, this is based on geometrical schemes, to which, however, wonderful figural mosaics have now been added in the large triclinium complex. These mosaics have often been considered simply as proof of the commitment of the dominus who gave the munus, while in reality they are inseparable elements of a complex semantic question that is not only visual but also ideological. In this representative space, in fact, the mosaicist put together images taken from the daily life of the venationes in the amphitheatres and set them against the myth of the Amazons, thus comparing the legendary past with the real present.