Z34.4A PHORCYS & CETO
Museum Collection | Bardo National Museum, Tunis |
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Catalogue No. | - |
Type | Mosaic |
Context | Acholla, Trajan Baths |
Date | - |
Period | Late Roman |
DESCRIPTION
A sea-god carries a nymph or sea-goddess across the sea. The marine deity is probably Phorcys and the woman either his wife Ceto or a Nereid-nymph. He is depicted as a red-skinned merman with the coiling tail of a serpentine fish, lobster-claw "feet" and lobster horns. His arms and torso are adorned with sharp crustacean spines. The god holds a box (of salt?) in one hand and a flaming torch in the other, and is draped in a wreath of seaweed(?).