Mastodawn

Delightful detail from the Roman “unswept floor” mosaic by Heraclitus, showing a mouse nibbling a walnut.
Superb use of darker tiles for subtle shadow effect!
2nd century AD. Vatican Museums https://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collezioni/musei/museo-gregoriano-profano/Mosaico-dell-asarotos-oikos.html
#MosaicMonday #Archaeology #globalmuseum @AlisonFisk

@globalmuseum and the single tessera giving the mouse a little glint in its eye!

Roman Pixel Art 🙂👍

@globalmuseum I find no beauty in it.

Mosaics from ancient Rome disguise ancient tragedy. Beauty, but at a very high price.

This art form relied on a glut of slave laborers from brutal imperialist wars.

Thousands of workers spending their lives under an overseers' lash, kneeling in dirt to place millions of tiny tiles & stones, from dawn to dusk.

Imagine the cheap ego gratification of a wealthy slave owner smirking & watching it done

The American South is filled with lovely manors built by the same kind of labor

@Npars01 @globalmuseum that is sad. But it's still a fantastic work of art even if it's made involuntarily.

@globalmuseum Hah, very cute!

By the way, the link seems to be missing a `www.` in the domain -- my browser wouldn't follow the link without it. (Might be misconfigured DNS.)

@timmc Link corrected

@globalmuseum This is such a great little detail!

When you see what contemporary copy cats make the difference is huge

Ps those masks are scary. They look like copped off heads