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The second mosaics features, in its central
medallion, a female character seated on a throne, wearing a helmet and holding
in one hand the celestial sphere and in the other a spear. The attitude and the
attributes of the character indicate that it represented Rome as Athena Minerva,
helmeted and armed. Around this central character, appear six female figures,
three of whom in full length and allegories of the provinces. Thanks to their
attributes most of these provinces can be identified : Africa, wearing the traditional
elephant hide, Egypt holding a sistrum, musical instrument of the Goddess Isis;
Asia wearing a turreted hair style; Spain holding an olive branch, a symbol of
its role as the main supplier of oil to Rome; a function that will be taken away
from her by Africa, as of the end of the 2 nd-c. Sicily represented as huntress
Diana, bearing the triskelis (three legs bent behind the head evoking
the three tips of the island); finally a province which is not easily identifiable,
due to unclear attributes.
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