Loving Tunisia!: February 2013

Roman Mosaics and Byzantium Relics

It's amazing to visit old ruins, out in the middle of nowhere and see mosaics still in place! It's more amazing to see them restored and displayed in two incredible museums that we visited in Tunisia: one in Sousse, a city 140 km south of Tunis, and the other in the world famous Bardo Museum in downtown Tunis. This blog will cover Sousse as there was so much to see! Bardo Museum is the next Blog!

In both of these museums, the Roman mosaics have been restored and they are a testament to the ancient artisans who created them out of thousands of small pieces of colored stone and glass. The floors of the ancient villas were decorated with a variety of different abstract designs, murals showing sports events of the day; wild animals, horses, dogs, animal fights, gladiators fighting beasts, & hunting scenes. And of course Gods! Gods! Gods! And 'virtual' food and offerings to the house guests upon arrival!

Sousse

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sousse

Sousse has the core of an ancient city surrounded by a modern one. The ancient city is a fort with a high stone walls, towers and labyrinths of narrow alleys inside. We skirted around the edges of the Souk briefly because we really came to see the museum and the mosaics!

Tall fort walls

Look out tower

Souk Alley

Anique shop in souk

Local nuts arranged as flowers

Sousse Museum

The Sousse Museum is housed in an old fortress and is very impressive. There are amazing collections of mosaics and statues inside.

Museum Main Entrance

Beautiful Door

Fortress Tower

Fortress Courtyard

Fortress Walls

Corbel Gabled ceilings

Headless statues

Marble Columns

Evil Eye

Poor old Ganymede being attacked by Zeus in the form of an Eagle - a favorite theme of pedophilia, kidnapping & homosexuality!
Ganymede is the young, beautiful boy that became one of Zeus' lovers. One source of the myth says that Zeus fell in love with Ganymede when he spotted him herding his flock on Mount Ida. Zeus then came down in the form of an eagle or sent an eagle to carry Ganymede to Mount Olympus where Ganymede became cup bearer to the gods.All of Zeus' scandalous liaisons have allegorical meanings. Some sources say that Zeus' affair with Ganymede was a (religious) justification for homosexuality within the Greek culture, yet others state that this is merely a reflection of Greek life at that time. Before the popularity of the Zeus and Ganymede myth spread, however, the only toleration for sodomy was an external form of goddess worship. Cybele's male devotees tried to achieve unity with her by castrating themselves and dressing like women. OMG!

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/g/ganymede.html

THE MEDUSA

The medusa was an ugly creature. Let's have a look at how she came

into existance, for she wasn't always that ugly... Again, the Gods played their role.
The Medusa was the daughter of Phorkys and Keto, the children of Gaia (Earth) and Okeanos (Ocean). She was one of the three sisters known as the Gorgons. The other two sisters were Sthenno and Euryale. Medusa was the only mortal out of the three. She was once very beautiful and lived far in the north were the sun didn't visit. Being very curious, she wanted to see the sun, and asked the Goddess Athena for permission to visit the south. Athena refused to allow her to visit. The Me

dusa got angry and dared to say that Athena hadn't given her permission because she was jealous of her beauty. that was it! Athena was angered and punished her by turning her hair into snakes and cursing her by making her so ugly that who ever looks at her eyes would turn into stone.

Amazing Medusa Floor

Please don't turn me into stone!

Roman Funerary Mosaic with ocean scenes

Roman Funerary mosaic legend

Dionysis on Chariot being pulled by 4 Tigers

Dionysis Mosaic Legend

Calendar with scenes related to religious festival or monthly activities

Legend to Calendar Mosaic (above)

Birds of a Feather

Yin Yang?

Magical Beast

Christian Tiles made from clay formed in molds and fired. They were a standardized size (30.8 cm) and used to cover large surfaces

Winners of a Horse Race in a 'Circus'

Stud Farm for Horses

Hunting Dog

Bull figure evokes the god Dionysis

Ancient Entertainment: Actors & Poets

Poet with Masks and scrolls

Actors

Actors's Masks

Emperors!

'Venatio' A hunt in the ampitheatre!

Many of the wild animals were native to Tunisia and the Romans would export them for slaughter in the Colosseums! This mosaic shows the name of the Gladiators

Entrance Floor of a Roman Villa

In addition, there are murals that were laid on the floor at the entrance of houses offering virtual Welcome gifts of food for visitors: rabbits, geese, ducks, pigs: