The Room of the Dance is a guest room in the Villa Romana del Casale. It is located to the north of the peristyle, between the Service rooms with geometric mosaics and the Room of the Fishing Cupids. There is an antechamber between the room and the peristyle.
The room is, together with the antechamber, most likely a cubiculum, i.e., a bedroom, intended for the guests of the owner of the villa. It is certainly a high status room, due to the use of figurative mosaics. Such expensive mosaics would not be placed in a service room mostly used by slaves.
The mosaic in the room has large lacunae, but some figures are almost complete. In the upper part, away from the door, there are one or two dancing women to the left and to the right a man is grabbing a woman who is resisting. In the middle there are fragments of a female dancer. The dancing women are hurling their scarfs into the air.
Little remains of the lower part of the mosaic, but to the left a woman appears to evade the attempts of a man to grab her, and to the right there are very small fragments of at least two persons.
The mosaic is very damaged, but from what remains it could be a depiction of the Rape of the Sabine Women.
The lower parts of the wall is still covered with stucco painted with geometric designs.
The antechamber has all but lost the mosaics.
Photo gallery for "Room of the Dance"
There are 3 photos in this gallery.
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