This mosaic is all about luck and covering one’s bases, and if you allow yourself a little unscholarly, unprovable cross-millennia Mediterranean flights of fancy perhaps some fun superstitious syncretism.
It’s a biggish pavement, from a domestic context – the vestibule of a house to be precise – in ancient Antioch (ancient Syria, present-day Turkey) and it’s pretty great.
At the right, a somewhat doleful eye being attacked by all manner of nasties…a trident, a sword, an angry dog, serpent, crow, and (delightfully bizarre!) a centipede, scorpion, and crazed looking panther. To the left, a horned hunchbacked dwarf playing a double flute – an alarming phallos managing to twist itself backwards to point towards the much suffering eye.
Evil the eye may be, but this seems like overkill! What I love most is the potential parallels with contemporary (if old-fashioned) beliefs regarding the evil eye…the Greek κακό μάτι, Turkish nazar, and the Italian triple threats the malocchio, corno, and gobbo.
Stevie had it wrong. When it came to graeco-religion, believing in things you don’t understand and placating those unknowable forces (malevolent and benevolent) was very much the way!
