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Greek Mythology >> Galleries >> Greco-Roman Mosaics 1 >> Z12.8

Z12.8 DIONYSUS & THE TYRRHENIAN PIRATES

Dionysus & Tyrrhenian Pirates | Greco-Roman mosaic
DETAILS
Museum Collection Bardo National Museum, Tunis
Catalogue No. -
Type Mosaic
Context Utica, Oceanus or Neptune Mosaic
Date -
Period Imperial Roman

DESCRIPTION

Dionysus (Roman Bacchus) transforms the Tyrrhenian pirates into dolphins. In the myth the sailors attempted to capture the god to sell into slavery. The god is depicted as a youth clothed in a bright blue robe, holding a thyrsus (pine-cone tipped staff) in his hand. A panther lunges at the pirates as they leap into the sea. The men are depicted partially transformed into dolphins. On the boat beside Dionysus stands the helmsman Acoetes, a Maenad nymph and the plump, old satyr Silenus.

ARTICLES

Dionysus, Silenus

OTHER IMAGES

Thumbnail Poseidon & Amphitrite

Z2.5 Poseidon

Thumbnail Pontus

Z35.7 Pontus

Thumbnail Nereids & Sea-Gods

Z34.10 Nereids

Thumbnail Erotes

Z31.15 Erotes

Thumbnail Erotes

Z31.15B Erotes