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Ulpia Oescus: mosaic of "The Achaeans of Menander"
Near the Temple of Fortuna at Roman
Oescus is a building which contains a colorful floor mosaic, dated to the
time of the emperor Septimus Severus (AD 193-211). In the center is a theatrical
scene showing three masked participants and one man without a mask. On the
white background, over the figures, is the inscription "Achaeans of Menander"
([M]ENANDROU AXAIOI; figs.1), referring to a lost work by Menander (342-291
BC), the famous Athenian comic playwright. His comedy "The Achaeans" was
unknown prior to the 1948 discovery of this inscription. The existence of
this play was then confirmed in 1961 by a papyrus from Oxyrhynchus in Egypt
(see AR 2,2), containing an alphabetical list of Menander's works.
[Fig.1: The mosaic of the "Achaeans" by Menander (after T. Ivanov
1954).]
Interpretation of the personages in this intriguing masked scene is still
unresolved. The name "Achaeans" naturally suggests that they were prominent
persons from the Achaean world. As interpreted by T. Ivanov, Menander drew
his subject from Book I of the Iliad of Homer, on the quarrel between
Agamemnon (the actor on the left) and Achilles (at right) over the damsel
Briseis. The old man is Nestor - king of the island of Pylos, who tries to
reconcile the men. The young man without a mask is Patroclus - Achilles'
true friend who, after the quarrel, accompanied him to the ships of the
Myrmidons.
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