PULA SITES
The remains of a lavish town house (domus) in the main street of the Roman colony of Pola, not far from the forum, were found during the construction of a new building in 1958-1959, while removing the concrete floor of a cinema hall destroyed by bombing in World War II. The dining room (triclinium) from the third building phase of the centuries-old domus, located next to the portico of the peristyle, contained marble wall cornices and coverings, frescoes, and a multicolored mosaic with geometric and figural motifs. The mosaic in the dining room is divided into two equally large fields, one designating the space for couches and a table, and the other for entertainers, actors, musicians, and dancers who amused the guests. The figural representations in the southern field, with a hexagonal net, located in trapezoids along the edge, are limited to fish, a bird, dolphins, and a pair of confronted dolphins with an anchor in the center. The northern field is divided into nine rectangles, eight of which on the edges contain rhombuses or complex motifs with incorporated vine tendrils.
In the center is a scene from Greek mythology depicting the punishment of Dirce, a lesson about violent retribution for misdeeds and the punishment awaiting a disobedient woman in a patriarchal society. The twins Amphion and Zethus, sons of the god Zeus and the mortal Antiope, avenge Dirce for abusing and persecuting their mother by forcing a bull to tear her apart. Dirce, wife of the Theban king, banished the pregnant Antiope, who was then forced to abandon her newborn twins. When they grew up, Amphion and Zethus learned that Antiope was their true mother and decided to cruelly punish the evil Dirce. After killing Dirce, they conquered Thebes by force, killed the king, Dirce's husband, and together became the kings of Thebes.
Dirce is depicted in the mosaic as an immoral and dissolute half-naked bacchante with Dionysian attributes. The Dionysian cult is represented by a vine at the top of the scene, a tympanum, and a thyrsus. To the left of Dirce lies a tympanum (tympanum), a percussion instrument consisting of skin stretched over a round frame with hanging bells. The tympanum was used in Dionysian festivals and rituals. At Dirce's feet lies a thyrsus (thyrsus), Dionysus' staff with a pine cone, a symbol of eternal life at the top, and tied ribbons symbolizing devotion to the cult. The multicolored mosaic was created at the end of the 2nd or in the 3rd century.
