Opus vermiculatum; 43 x 41 cm
Naples, MAN; inv. 9985
Pompeii, so-called Villa of Cicero
End of second century BC - First Style

The small emblem, which provides the name of the artist, Dioskourides of Samos, written in tiny tesserae in the upper portion, probably represents a scene drawn from a comedy by the Greek dramatist Menander, in which instruments associated with the rites of Cybele are played: the figure in the first row plays the thympanon, a kind of tambourine; the next plays the cymbals, while the last one the double flute; the wind instrument that the young boy plays on the left of the scene is probably a kind of horn, or type of Phoenician pipe - also used in the rites of Attis and Cybele.