Il mosaico con Province da Belkis-Zeugma : una riconsiderazione a partire dai frammenti di Gerusalemme

This paper analyses three pieces from a larger mosaic originally found in Zeugma, a city of ancient Syria (now Belkis, Turkey). The mosaic as a whole was formerly studied by Parlasca (1983), who proposed that it symbolically represented the Roman Empire, with Neptune, the god of freshwater and the sea, at the center and the Roman Provinces around him. In this paper it is confirmed that evidence corroborates Parlasca’s interpretative hypothesis. Moreover, unedited details are provided on the chronology, environmental function, themes and decorative motifs of the mosaic. In particular, from the literature we learn that the mosaic dates back to half of the 3rd Century A.D., when the Sasanian king Shapur the First sacked the city, but in this paper it is proposed that it was actually made between the reign of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, and the end of the Antonine age. Finally it is argued that, based on the frame decorations and further evidence, the shape of the whole mosaic might have been rectangular rather than square, displaying the provinces surrounding Neptune in a sequence that recalls their natural geographical position on a map (e.g. Africa to the south, Gallia to the North, and so forth).