The large and imposing entrance of this room distinguishes it from the rooms preceding it on the north portico of the
peristyle
.
The quadrangular room is decorated with columns at the entrance, not an apse, confirming that its function, likely a dining room or winter living space, was both public and private. The more discreet tone compared to other reception places is underlined by the absence of marble slabs on the walls.
The mosaic floor describes a series of scenes unfolding on five registers, of extreme and lively realistic synthesis, which present the commissioner of the villa with his family and servants on a hunting trip with dogs.
The importance given to hunting is testified by many literary texts, especially written in imperial times, in which it is shown as the celebration of certain aspects of virtus, related to the exaltation of strength and cunning. This activity was practised both as a moment of leisure for the owners of the latifundia, and as a function to supply animals for the shows that took place in the
Flavian Amphitheatre
in Rome.
