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Sepulcros reais do Mosteiro de Santa María de Poblet (Tarragona)

Tarragona, Spain 1880/90

#tarragona #spain #españa #1880s #1890s #cathedral #portal #art #religion #europe #history #vintage #photography #architecture #19th century #1800s #places

Photos by Marco Ansaloni/Descobrir.cat and Planeta Dunia.

Ancient Roman mosaic that represents the mythological characters Medusa, Perseus and Andromeda. This mosaic was made in-situ in the late 2nd century AD or the early 3rd century AD in a domus (house) located in the Roman city of Tarraco (modern-day Tarragona, Catalonia). Nowadays, it can be seen in the National Archaeology Museum of Tarragona.

In Roman mythology, Medusa was a woman with snakes as hair who turned people into stone when they looked at her eyes. Perseus was the demi-god who killed Medusa using a mirror, so he could look without being petrified. When he was coming back home after killing Medusa, he saw a beautiful naked woman tied to a rock. This woman was Andromeda, who was about to be sacrificed to a sea monster following the orders of an oracle. Her mother had boasted that she was more beautiful than the sea nymphs, which had angered them and made them ask the sea god Neptune to punish her. For this reason, Neptune had sent floods and the sea monster to punish their homeland, and an oracle had said that sacrificing Andromeda to the sea monster was the only way to be saved from it. Perseus killed the sea monster and married Andromeda as a reward. Later, the goddess Athena would immortalize Perseus, Andromeda and Cassiopeia (Andromeda's mother) as constellations in the sky.