In this image the god Poseidon is pulling the reins of a hippokampos and Amphitrite is sitting on the hippocampos’s back. According to legends Poseidon saw Amphitrite dancing with other nereids on the Greek island of Naxos. He then proceeded to carry her off, to be his queen. The other version of the myth was that Amphitrite did not want to marry Poseidon at first, and ran away to the Atlas Mountains to get away from him. But Poseidon sent out a dolphin to go find her and convince her to marry him, this eventually worked, and she married him. This mosaic currently resides in Ephesus, Turkey in the Terrace houses. Its dated back to last 1st century- 2nd century AD. This mosaic is intricately built and effectively uses shading on the tiles with the different shades of each colour. The colouring also gives it the appearance of high contrast. Its got a wave patterned frame around the main image. Some of the similar colours in the image help move the eye all around the image. For example, from the tail above Amphitrite’s head, to the hippokampos’s mane, through the reins into Poseidon.
