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- Detailed Record
- Title:
- The Rudston Venus Mosaic
- Date/Period:
- 250 - 300
- Museum link:
- Hull and East Riding Museum
<P>The figure in the centre of this mosaic is the goddess Venus. She was the goddess of love and beauty. Around the edges are a lion, a bull, a leopard and a stag.</P> <P>This mosaic is from a house in Rudston, East Yorkshire. Wealthy Romans decorated their floors with mosaics. These were made of tiny cubes of stone called tesserae. Some mosaics were just patterns but others had people and animals in them like this one.</P> <P>A Roman site near Rudston in East Yorkshire has been known of since 1839. There were excavations there in the 1930s, 1960s and 1970s. These led to the discovery of several finely-preserved mosaics. These include the Venus Mosaic which takes its name from the goddess in its centre.</P> <P>The Venus mosaic was unearthed in 1933 and was removed to Hull Museums in 1962.</P> <P>The style of draftsmanship and colour in this mosaic suggest it may have been made by a British craftsmen. He probably used a copybook of designs that came from Roman North Africa.</P> <P>The centre of this mosaic contains two figures, Venus and a merman, or Triton. Venus has bracelets on her wrists and holds a mirror to her left. In her right hand she holds a golden apple which she won in a beauty contest.</P> <P>Around the edge of the mosaic are four animals: a lion, a stag, a leopard and a bull. These may be a celebration of the amphitheatre or symbolise the seasons.</P> <P>The Roman displays at Hull contain mosaics from villas to the north and south of the Humber. They are reckoned to form the best single collection of Roman mosaics in northern Britain.</P>
