Roman mosaic discovered in Villa of Publius Vedius Pollio at Posillipo

A mosaic floor has been unearthed at the Archaeological Park of Pausilypon in Naples, hidden for two thousand years under the baths of the villa once owned by Publius Vedius Pollio, a wealthy wine merchant and politician of the Augustan age. The discovery reverses a damnatio memoriae attempt by Emperor Augustus, who inherited the villa after Pollio's death in 15 BCE and radically transformed it, likely to erase the memory of his embarrassing friend. According to historical accounts by Tacitus, Cassius Dio, and Seneca, Pollio was notorious for his cruelty, especially toward slaves. During a banquet attended by Augustus, Pollio ordered a slave thrown to his moray eels for breaking a crystal cup; the slave begged Augustus for mercy, who cleverly ordered all crystal cups in the villa to be broken, rendering punishment impossible. Upon his death, Pollio left most of his wealth to Augustus, including the Posillipo villa, which Augustus razed to build baths and a portico dedicated to his wife Livia. The newly discovered mosaic, composed of white tesserae with a black border, lies in a large hall overlooking the sea. Marco Giglio of the University of Naples L'Orientale, who led the excavation with permission from the Ministry of Culture and the local Soprintendenza, notes that stylistic dating suggests the hall dates to the late Republican or early Augustan period, though stratigraphic confirmation is pending. Above this hall, Augustus built service rooms for his personal baths.