NAPLES, ITALY—The Charlotte Observer reports that a mosaic floor has been uncovered at the Pausilypon, a Roman villa overlooking the Bay of Naples, by a team of researchers led by Marco Giglio of the University of Naples “L’Orientale.” The mosaic, located in what is thought to have been the villa’s original main living area, has a white center surrounded by a double-layered black outline. This style dates the mosaic to the late Republican period or the Augustan period at the latest, Giglio explained. The floor may therefore shed light on the villa’s first owner, Publius Vedius Pollio, a merchant and politician who left the property to the emperor Augustus in his will in 15 B.C. Augustus renovated the villa and covered the white mosaic floor tiles when he converted the living space into a personal spa, Giglio added. To read about a marble head of Augustus that was unearthed in the southern Italian town of Isernia, go to "Head of State."
