Interesting Roman mosaic showing the chariot race performed by children. The boys drive two-wheeled chariots drawn by birds. The colours of the teams were marked not only by the colour of the boys’ tunics but also by the species of birds: Whites have geese, Reds – flamingos; Blue – gallinula; Greens – pheasants.
Birds have plants around their necks that symbolize the seasons; this way: flamingos have a bunch of flowers, which symbolizes spring; the ears on the goose’s necks refer to summer; the grapevine on the necks of gallinulas is autumn; olive oil on pheasants is winter. The entire composition refers to the variability of nature and the natural cycles. The winner of the chase was a coachman from the Greens team, who slows down his animals and takes the palm of victory.
On the mosaic, apart from competing coachmen and their carts, you can see sparsor, which was responsible for cooling the coachman and his animals with water and condensing the sand to reduce the amount of dust.
The mosaic adorned the Roman estate Villa Romana del Casale in Sicily.
