A new Roman Pavement from Baetica; the so-called 'Dolphin Mosaic' from Naeva

We analyse a mosaic recently discovered in the ancient city of Naeva, whose chronology could be dated to the 3rd century ad due to its stylistic peculiarities and the data derived from the study of materials that show the abandonment of the building in which this mosaic pavement is framed at the end of that century. The work also explores the main peculiarity of the mosaic, which lies in its formal aspect, as it covers the entire surface of the impluvium and the rim of a well, of a colonnaded atrium possibly belonging to an important urban domus. The theme represented in the mosaic, which is richly polychrome, combines the elements of water and earth through the representation, located on the floor, of abundant fish fauna and a unique scene of satyrs and maenads framed in an environment of thick vines, developed around the well's rim. To all this we should add the dramatic nature of the whole, caused by the water and the possible flooding of the centre of the atrium, prepared to contain a sheet of water at certain times, which would make this marine scene more realistic.