The room is located in the main apartments on the north side of the residential complex, a small but precious antechamber, perhaps used as a private “studiolo” by the Dominus, leading into two other rooms that complete the small quarter.
The room is embellished with a rich mosaic that celebrates the event of
Ulysses
and
Polyphemus
, narrated by
Homer
in Book IX of the
Odyssey
, an emblem of the eternal struggle between reason and irrationality.
The well-preserved mosaic scene represents the moment when Ulysses hands the cyclops Polyphemus a cup of his best wine, with the intention of getting him drunk and blinding him in his only eye while he sleeps, so that he can free himself and escape with his companions on a ship.
Ulysses represents human cunning capable of the brutality expressed by Polyphemus.
Consider the key and recurring role and of wine, which plays a decisive role in this matter, bringing the episode closer to Dionysian themes, of which the mosaics of the Villa del Casale give ample testimony.
