Mosaic of Los Amores of Cástulo (Linares, Spain)

The excavations carried out in Cástulo in 2011 discovered, in area 2 of the archeological site, a large building of approximately 33x12 m (Building D) dated to the end of the first century A.D. The building would have been erected in honor of the emperor Domitian (51-96 AD) and would therefore have a public character. Its construction would respond to an imperial project, it would be a representation of the maiestas imperii and also of the emperor as representative of it. Other stylistic and literary criteria (the adaptation of the composition to the description of the two central scenes in the written sources), however, propose the second century AD, and even the third century AD as a more suitable chronological framework. Traces of a process of deterioration and degradation of the materials that may end up causing fractures, fissures or falls as a result of their abandonment are not detected in the building. The absence of these traces leads to think that the building was not occupied because the work was not finished when its demolition was decided. The reason for this demolition may be in the damnatio memoriae, or condemnation of the memory, of Domitian, last emperor of the Flavia Dynasty. A conspiracy around him ended with his murder in 96 AD, decreeing the Senate after the emperor’s death, condemnation of his memory and destruction of his work, remaining the building in ruins as an example of the power of the Senate. So far the excavations carried out since 2011 have identified ten rooms in building D, several of them decorated with mosaics and wall paintings. Among them, room 1 stands out for its spectacular mosaic, known as the Mosaic of the Amores. The mosaic is almost completely preserved and measures 11.65 m long x 5.75 m wide. Its composition is a variant of the so-called compás or a oculi scheme, incorporating two central circles instead of one as usual (López, 2014). The origin of the compass scheme is found in Italy, in black and white designs of Pompeii, Ostia and Lucera, and from there it is disseminated to the provincial workshops of the rest of the empire, Hispania included, at the end of the first century AD. In the circle on the right the Judgment of Paris has been represented and in the left the myth of Selene and Endimion. The half circumferences of the major sides are decorated with four profile erotes offering clusters of grapes to a partridge and a pheasant. The other two half circumferences of the minor sides are also illustrated with erotes but in this case hunting a hare In all the scenes the erotes are represented standing with the arch and the quiver behind them. In the quarters of circles of the angles appear the allegorical busts of the seasons with their characteristic attributes: the Spring with a bouquet of flowers, the Summer touched with spikes, the Autumn with clusters of grapes, the Winter with branches of honey on the head and carrying a bouquet of olive tree. They represent the passage of time and annual fertility, theme for the ancient man, not only philosophical but of well-being and widespread in Roman musivaria, and in particular in the Betica. The six oblong quadrangular spaces are occupied by mammalian, herbivorous and carnivorous animals in an attitude of running in a rocky landscape: in a wild boar, lion and horse side and, in the other, tigress, deer and lioness. In general, the general mosaic meaning has a double aspect. On the one hand it has been defended that the scenes in the mosaic of Cástulo have a moralizing content in relation to the excesses in love and in the intake of wine. On the other hand, in a reading connected with the transcendence of the building in which it is located, it would be part of an architectural and iconographic discourse related to the legitimation of power and to the strengthening of the legitimate, continuous and eternal character of the Roman and imperial domain. Bibliography Jimenez, Y. (2014): “The possible building of imperial worship. A necessarily penultimate reflection.” Magazine 7 corners, 6: 89-103. López G. (2014): “The mosaic of the Amores de Castulo.” Review7corners, 6: 117- 126. Neira Mª L. (2018): “Around the mosaic of the Amores of Cástulo. Regarding the connection of Professor Blázquez with the Roman mosaics and Cástulo,” in N. Camarero (coord.): Vir validus et nobilis. Tribute to D. José María Blázquez Martínez. Linarenses Studies Centre pp. 239-266. Facebook of Cástulo: https://es-es.facebook.com/CastuloSigloXXI / Mosaic View at 360º https://skfb.ly/6HUYC