The view from the terrace, on the first floor of the building, allows us to appreciate the uniformity and quality of the baths’ mosaic decorations. Deities and marine subjects allude to the theme of water, clearly connected to the building’s function as a bath complex. The first room (A) shows Amphitrite, Neptune’s wife, riding a sea horse and accompanied by tritons; in the second room (B) is Neptune himself with a trident, driving a four-horse chariot drawn by sea horses, surrounded by dolphins and tritons blowing on shells. The frigidarium (room for cold baths) (C) was also paved with a mosaic depicting Scylla, the monster who killed seafarers, surrounded by marine deities. These mosaics are important evidence of the rich mosaic production of Ostia’s workshops at the time of Hadrian (AD 117-138).
Mosaic with Neptune on a four-horse chariot (B)
Detail of the mosaic with Amphitrite (A)
Detail of a triton from the mosaic of Scylla (C)
Relief with mosaics of Neptun and Amphitrite
Mosaic with Amphitrite riding a seahorse
Christian symbols on the mosaic of one of the areas of the Baths
Mosaic with Nilotic scene from the Baths’ latrine