DOMUS OF THE STONE CARPETS, Mosaic Of The Good Shepherd

The "mosaic of the good shepherd" originally decorated the floor of a room located in an area of the palace built around the 4th century.

The rooms in this wing of the palace were for official purposes and for this reason were richly decorated with floor mosaics and polychrome marble, which are unfortunately largely missing as they were reused for other constructions in later centuries.

The name of the mosaic is related to the main subject of the work, a young man leaning on a long staff beside two sheep.

The boy is not thought to depict Christ, often referred to as the "good shepherd," because the mosaic completely lacks sacred elements such as a halo. Nor does it seem it could be the character from Greek mythology Orpheus, who enchanted animals by playing music, because although a flute is hanging from a tree branch, Orpheus was usually surrounded by wild animals and not docile sheep....