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  1. Seuso Research Project
  2. Hercules mosaic, Aquincum
The Hercules mosaic (Photo: Péter Komjáthy © Budapest History Museum – The Aquincum Museum)
The Hercules mosaic (Photo: Péter Komjáthy © Budapest History Museum – The Aquincum Museum)
Pannonia
Turn of 2nd and 3rd c. A.D.

Hercules mosaic, Aquincum

From the end of the 2nd century rich urban residences were built such as, for example, the Hercules villa in Meggyfa Street in the territory of the settlement that was formed around the legionary fortress of Aquincum. It received its name from the hero of its noted mosaic floor. Although the middle scene of the mosaic made during the Severan period in the beginning of the 3rd century has been damaged, the depicted mythological story can be easily identified: with his arrow Heracles (Hercules) is aiming at the centaur, Nessos, who tried to rape heroes’s wife, Deianeiria, while crossing the River Euenos. The Euenos personified in the figure of the bearded man can be seen with a sceptre of waterplants in his hand lying at the right edge of the mosaic. This outstanding colourful artwork consisting of nearly 6,000 tesserae was not made in Pannonia, but it is the only so far known imported mosaic in the province. It must have been crafted in a large mosaic workshop, probably in Alexandria. Then in Aquincum local craftsmen built it in and decorated it with a frame of geometric motifs.

  • Reign of Emperor Augustus

    Ara Pacis Augustae (Altar of Augustan Peace)
    Statue of Augustus from Prima Porta
  • “Corinthian bronze”jug and bowl with handle, Egyed

  • Roman wall paintings

  • The Conquest of Pannonia

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    Trajan’s Column
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    Pantheon
  • Reign of Marcus Aurelius

    Equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius
    Bronze portrait of Marcus Aurelius, Lugio
  • The Severan dynasty: the golden age of Pannonia

    Wall paintings from Brigetio
    Hercules mosaic, Aquincum
    Cult relief of Mithras, Sárkeszi
  • Ivory statue of Autumn (Autumnus), Savaria

  • The age of the soldier emperors

    Statue of Nemesis from the governor’s palace, Aquincum
  • Silver augur staff, Brigetio

  • Reign of Diocletian: the age of the First Tetrarchy

    Statue of the tetrarchs of Venice
    The Gold Coffin by Ferenc Móra
  • Reign of Emperor Constantine I (the Great)

    Mosaics of the Villa del Casale, Piazza Armerina
    The triumphal arch of Constantine
    The Colossus of Constantine I
    Colossal bronze statue of Constantine I
  • Foundation of Constantinople

  • Reign of Emperor Constantius II.

    Heidentor, Carnuntum
    The Kaiseraugst treasure
  • Helmet of March 15 Square, Budapest Castellum contra Teutanum

  • Imperial fibula with onyx, Szilágysomlyó

  • Reign of Emperor Julian

  • Reign of Emperor Valentinian I

  • Battle of Hadrianopolis

  • Barbarian incursions into Pannonia

    The Kőszárhegy quadripus
  • I. (The Great) Theodosius and his co-emperors

    Obelisk of Theodosius
    Gilded bronze bust of Valentinian II, Sopianae (?)
  • Fragment of glass vessel with gold foil decoration, Intercisa

  • Painted Early Christian burial chambers, Sopianae

  • Ivory diptychs

  • Sack of Rome

  • Giving up the territory of Pannonia

    Late Roman luxury villa, Nagyharsány
    The Beremend bronze plaque
  • Dethronement of Romulus Augustulus

  • Mosaics of Ravenna

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