A Memento Mori Mosaic (Mid 1st Century BC, Archeological Museum of Naples), contributed by Olga Kerameos (2023)
beings. At the top of the composition there is a plumb-bob with its plumb-line whose
axis is death in the form of a skull; below, there is a butterfly, the soul, on a wheel,
symbolizing Fortune; between the arms of the plumb-bob are the symbols of poverty on
the right and the symbols of wealth on the left.
This mosaic, along with the above text, truly struck with me after my visit to this museum.
Seeing a skull, which I thought was a contemporary symbol for death, used to convey
such a philosophical view on loss made me realize what a universal experience loss is.
