I hesitated putting this picture on display, but after all the Lonely Planet guide refers to “the priapic happy hunchback” (as one of mosaics with quirkier subjects “not to be missed”, but if I get complaints I will take it off, not wanting to risk my pbase membership. But since this is in a formal museum (and not hidden behind a curtain as some pieces were in Ephesos museum when I first visited it in the early seventies) I thought it might be allowed. He has spits in his hands. It's from Antakya, second century AD. Inv. 1026/a.
In particular it is from the House of the Evil Eye: In 1939 in Çekmece near Antakya a villa or house was found, containing several mosaics. On one of them a blue eye, attacked by a bird, dog, trident, sword and scorpion was named “Evil Eye”, the House of the Evil Eye was born. Three mosaics are figurative: the Evil Eye one, the Heracles’s struggle with serpents and the Lucky Hunchback one.
Antakya Archaeology Museum Happy hunchback mosaic sept 2019 6004.jpg
Antakya mosaic Happy Hunchback
Antakya dec 2008 6086.jpg
Antakya Museum December 2011 2527.jpg
Antakya Archaeology Museum Happy hunchback mosaic sept 2019 6005.jpg