We are on the home straight now.

Room 14

Geometric Mosaic

Mosaic floor made of sixteen smaller panels, each presenting a different complex geometric design.

Room 15

Peacock mosaic

Central panel illustrating a peacock with full display of its blue tail.

We've saved possibly the best mosaics until last. Room 16 has four panel mosaics, which we shall look at from left to right.

The first panel to the left represents the mythological love story of Pyramos and Thisbe. To the right corner, instead of Thisbe’s lover, there is a portrait of the river-god Pyramos. Thisbe is located to the left, while to the far back a tiger is holding Thisbe’s bloodied veil in his mouth.

In Ovid's Metamorphoses, Pyramus and Thisbe are two lovers in the city of Babylon who occupy connected houses/walls, forbidden by their parents to be wed, because of their parents' rivalry. Through a crack in one of the walls, they whisper their love for each other. They arrange to meet near Ninus' tomb under a mulberry tree and state their feelings for each other. Thisbe arrives first, but upon seeing a lioness with a mouth bloody from a recent kill, she flees, leaving behind her veil. When Pyramus arrives he is horrified at the sight of Thisbe's veil which the lioness had torn and left traces of blood behind, as well as its tracks. Assuming that a wild beast has killed her, Pyramus kills himself, falling on his sword, a typical Babylonian way to commit suicide, and in turn splashing blood on the white mulberry leaves. Pyramus' blood stains the white mulberry fruits, turning them dark. Thisbe returns, eager to tell Pyramus what had happened to her, but she finds Pyramus' dead body under the shade of the mulberry tree. Thisbe, after a brief period of mourning, stabs herself with the same sword. In the end, the gods listen to Thisbe's lament, and forever change the color of the mulberry fruits into the stained color to honor the forbidden love.

Source: wikipedia

There is another reason I find this panel interesting. The right of this mosaic looks a lot more colourful then the left. Originally I thought this was a bad photograph, but when I revisited the park it was raining. There is a hole somewhere in the roof, and it drips onto the walkway in front of this panel. A few splashes are landing on the mosaic, showing what it looks like beneath the dust.

This also indicates that some of the brightly coloured mosaics you see in books may not have been digitally enhanced. If they were taken after the mosaics had been given a wash, they really would be that colourful. We witnessed the same effect when we visited the House of Theseus after a rain shower. The mosaics look much nicer then.