u/WestonWestmoreland

...when Pirithous celebrated his wedding to Hippodamia, he allowed some centaurs to attend the wedding feast. On the bride's arrival in the company of her female retinue of matrons and young women, all the guests praised Pirithous for his fortunate choice of wife. The drunken centaur Eurytus was particularly excited by the sight of the bride as described in prose translation: For you, Eurytus, wildest of the wild centaurs, as your chest glowed with wine, the sight of the maiden ignited you, and drunkenness, doubled by desire, gained the upper hand.

Driven by desire, Eurytus overturned the tables and started dragging the bride away by her hair. Seeing this, the other centaurs grabbed the other women they desired most. All the men present then rose to their feet. The hero Theseus, present at the wedding, saved Hippodamia from Eurytus' clutches and smashed his brain in with a bowl. The other centaurs, seeking to avenge their slain brother, attacked the men, and in the ensuing battle, known as the Centauromachy, the centaurs were slaughtered in a bloodbath.

My apologies for inaccuracies and mistakes.

…The Tazza, also known as the Farnese Cup, features relief carvings on both its exterior and interior surfaces. It is about 20 cm (8 in) wide and similar in form to a Greek phiale or Roman patera, with no foot.

The upper side we see here has a scene with seven figures: a Sphinx on which a female figure holding ears of grain sits; a large bearded male figure on a tree holding a cornucopia; a young man holding a plough and carrying a sack of seeds over his shoulder; two seated female figures, one of whom holds a phiale, and two male figures in flight near the upper rim. These figures have long puzzled scholars. It seems clearly an allegory containing divine figures and perhaps personifications, but corresponds to no other known representation and has been interpreted in several different ways.

The origin of the Tazza Farnese is a mystery, leaving archaeologists and art historians to theorize a date and purpose for its creation. While its size and the material used are usually considered, theories of origin are mainly arrived at via individual analysis of the iconography of the piece, and therefore vary from one analysis to the next.

Many archaeologists and art historians attribute the Tazza to the Hellenistic Period, asserting that its blending of Greek and Egyptian cultural symbols, as well as the funds necessary to commission such a large gemstone cameo, tie it to the Ptolemaic court. Though not a widely held view, more recent analyses of the piece have assigned it a later date in the Augustan Period.

The piece has traveled a lot across the centuries. After Octavian's conquest of Egypt in 31 BC, the Farnese Cup was possibly acquired by the Treasury of Rome; according to some, it was only made after the Romans took Egypt. It seems it was later taken to Byzantium, then back west after this city was sacked in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade. By 1239 it was in the court of Frederick II, from which it then reached the Persian court of Herat or possibly Samarkand, where a contemporary drawing documents it; thence it found its way to the court of Alfonso of Aragon in Naples, where Angelo Poliziano saw it in 1458. Lorenzo the Magnificent finally purchased the famous "scutella di calcedonio" in Rome, in 1471. From there it came into the possession of the Farnese family through Margaret of Austria and thus into the Naples National Archaeological Museum.

Though some analyses of the iconography of the Tazza Farnese build upon and expand previous analyses, each scholarly writing on the piece leads to a slightly different theory about its inherent meaning.

Eugene J. Dwyer: His two major assertions are that the iconography found in the interior and exterior carvings is a sophisticated mix of Greek and Egyptian philosophic and religious concepts and that the composition of the carved figures correspond to specific constellations which, in their orientation, resemble a map of the night sky during the time of year in which the flooding of the Nile would have occurred. In assigning the piece a multi-faceted religious and philosophic meaning, Dwyer repeatedly references the Corpus Hermeticum. More specifically, he points to the Poimandres and how the figures of the interior carving closely match the elements it presents in its discussion of the creation of life. He uses this reference to assign each figure a corresponding Greek and/or Egyptian god. In this sense, Dwyer sets up the piece as a direct illustration of the creation of life that would have been easily understood by both Greeks and Egyptians living at the time the Tazza was created.

Julia C. Fischer: She is one of the few who have assigned the Tazza an Augustan date rather than a Hellenistic one. Her main evidence for placing the piece in the Augustan period is its size and the material it was carved from. She discusses the unstable economic position of the Ptolemaic Court, asserting that the funds for such a piece would not have been available until the improvement of the economy during the Augustan period. Fischer also discusses that while the piece features a mix of Greek and Egyptian figures, concepts, and methods, it also contains distinctly Roman aspects, especially in the Roman features of the Gorgon carving found on the piece's exterior. She believes that the cup was created for propaganda purposes in response to the Aquileia Dish.

John Pollini: Like Fischer, Pollini attributes the Tazza Farnese to the Augustan period in Rome. His evidence is also based on the size and material used, but Pollini's primary focus is providing analysis of the piece's iconography in an attempt to prove that it was made during Augustus' reign, and was possibly even commissioned by Augustus himself. To this end, Pollini discusses the figures carved on the inner and outer surfaces, and how the symbolism found in each relates it to an aspect or region of the Augustan empire. Pollini's interpretation of the piece's iconography leads him to assert that it was meant to convey the Golden Age of Augustus and act as a sort of talisman to propagate the strength of the empire.

A fascinating precious object of exquisite manufacture, shrouded in mystery after over 2000 years…

My apologies for inaccuracies and mistakes.

...This 88 x 88 cm art piece was found at the base of the shallow marble-bordered basin (pool) at the center of the triclinium (dining room), in the House of the Geometric Mosaics. A closely related Pompeii mosaic survives from the House of the Faun and is often mentioned alongside this one because it has a very similar composition, including the octopus and lobster confrontation at the center. The main difference noted in the sources is that the Faun House version includes a marine horizon.

The subject could be purely decorative, but it also carried symbolic weight: the sea meant wealth, trade, fertility, and culinary abundance. That is why marine mosaics appear in villas, baths, and especially dining spaces.

The technique is generally identified as opus vermiculatum, which used very small tesserae to model outlines and details with exceptional precision. This method was especially favored for luxury panels in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, and Pompeii preserves some of its best examples. These high-end miniature mosaic works designed for close viewing, and the overall effect is almost painterly, which is why these mosaics often feel more like miniatures than floor decoration.

The mosaic is a good example of the late Republican or early Imperial mosaic style and of Roman taste for marine abundance and high-quality illusionistic detail, especially in dining-room decoration.

My apologies for inaccuracies and mistakes.