Fragmentary Mosaic Floor with Bear Hunt
Annotations
Enough of the fragmentary floor survives to identify the subject as a bear hunt. The figures of three hunters are preserved, and one of them has his name, Lucius, inscribed above his head. The arm of another hunter is preserved along the left edge, along with his name, Minus. The hunters are driving four bears into a net; a fifth has already been captured. The net is set in a semi-circle and tied to trees at the right and left edges of the scene. The hunting scene is surrounded on three sides by a border of loop guilloche, and another vertical border of a foliate garland with a central ribbon frames the right end. The outermost border is a luxurious acanthus scroll. Heads emerge from elaborate leaf complexes in the corners, and smaller figures of erotes with armor, fruits and animals (both real and imaginary) are tucked into the scrolling acanthus along the edges (Getty website).
Getty Museum 72.AH.76
Scenes of hunters forcing bears and other animals into nets and traps are depicted on mosaics throughout the Roman Empire, including examples from Carthage, El Kef, Hippo Regius, and Utica in North Africa; Centcelles in Spain; and this one, found in Villelaure in France; and Rome (including one from the Esquiline Hill) and Ravenna in Italy. (Getty Museum Catalogue)