Phrixus and Helle Roman Mosaic

A young man sits sideways on the back of a left-facing ram (center), holding its left horn with his right hand. He is fair-skinned and bare-chested with close-cropped dark hair. A length of cloth is wrapped around his waist and legs. Rocky outcroppings rise up on the far left and right of the scene with a body of water below the boy and ram receding into the background. In the water can be seen the head and chest of another youth, who reaches with their right arm toward the ram above.

Phrixus being carried across the Hellespont on the ram from the Golden Fleece. Helle has fallen off the ram and is drowning. From the Nymphaeum of the Villa San Marco in Stabiae. Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli 10005.

Online Resources
Image Source
Subjects
Phrixus
Helle
Golden Fleece
Type
Image
License
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike
Agent
Unknown
Date
ca. 50–79 CE
Culture
Roman
Medium
mosaic
Location
Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples
Image Credit
Wikimedia: Amphipolis

Phrixus and the ram, terracotta plaque

A young boy is depicted in right profile hanging not the side of a ram. He is nude except for a cloak and has close-cropped hair. He appears to be crowned by a wreath of some type, though the surface of the plaque is worn and it is hard to tell. He grasps the ram by its horns; his legs dangle alongside the ram above a body of water represented by three leaping fish.

A terracotta plaque depicting Phrixus being carried over the Hellespont by the ram with the golden fleece. Perhaps Melian in origin.

Online Resources
Metropolitan Museum of Art 12.229.20
Subjects
Phrixus
Golden Fleece
Type
Image
License
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike
Agent
Unknown
Date
ca. 450 BCE
Culture
Greek
Medium
terracotta
Dimensions
7 1/8 × 9 11/16 in. (18.1 × 24.6 cm)
Location
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Image Credit
© Trustees of the British Museum.
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