Pompeii skull mosaic warns of mortality

A famed Memento Mori mosaic from a Pompeii house-shop, excavated in 1874 and now in Naples, centers on a skull, with a level and plumb bob, butterfly, and a wheel likely symbolizing fortune, flanked by emblems of wealth and poverty in perfect balance. The museum says it warned the owner that rich or poor, all meet death. Found in the triclinium of a home converted into the city’s only tannery, likely owned by M. Vesonius Primus, the piece echoes Europe’s later skull art. Vesonius likely escaped in 79, but his chained guard dog perished.