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Roman villa of Els Munts

Painting with a rendering of Ocean

Painting with an inscription and the figure of the godOcean, 2nd century AD, 160 × 94.5 cm. Roman villa of Els Munts, Museu Nacional Arqueològic de Tarragona.

Painting with an inscription and the figure of the godOcean, 2nd century AD, 160 × 94.5 cm. Roman villa of Els Munts, Museu Nacional Arqueològic de Tarragona.

Mural painting showing the god Ocean. This was the decoration on the front of a fountain in one of the rooms of the villa. The god appears surrounded by sea creatures and an inscription in tabula ansata.

The inscription commemorates the construction of a cistern with a fountain at the villa of Els Munts by order of Caius Valerius Avitus and Faustina It also indicates the height, width and length in feet, and the capacity in mensurae. This would be the equivalent to 3.85 m wide, 5.03 m long, 2.96 deep with a capacity for some 18,564 litres.

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