THE WEDDING OF ARIADNE 11639. A MAGNIFICENT ROMAN MOSAIC. Eastern empire, 2nd century AD. The mosaic portrays the wedding of Dionysos and Ariadne. The happy couple sits on a raised dais garlanded respectively with laurel and vine leaves. Dionysos holds his long thrysos and embraces Ariadne who reaches for a ripe fruit on a tray offered by a nude boy. 195 x 200 cm. 78 kg. Excellent condition with no apparent restoration. A rare opportunity to acquire a large original and complete Roman mosaic of the finest quality. Provenance: The collection of a European gentleman. Imported into the US in the 1980's. In Greek mythology Ariadne was the daughter of King Minos of Crete. It was she who fell in love with the Athenian hero Theseus who had come to Crete to fight the Minotaur. It was Ariadne who conceived of giving Theseus a long string to enable him to find his way out of the labyrinth in which the Minotaur lived. As a result Theseus successfully slew the Minotaur and found his way out of the labyrinth. As a reward King Minos of Crete gave him Ariadne in marriage. However after leaving Crete Theseus abandoned Ariadne while she slept on the island of Naxos and returned to Athens alone. But the god Dionysos discovered her abandoned, and enchanted by her beauty took her as his wife in the ceremony portrayed in this mosaic. The wedding of Ariadne is the subject of the famous fresco "Wedding of Ariadne and Dionysus" in the Villa dei Mysteri in Pompeii, and the mosaics with the same theme from the museums in Thesaloniki (Greece) and Bardo (Tunesia) are also important artistic works representing this subject. $140,000.