Hylas and the Nymphs

This Roman opus sectile (4th c.) shows Hylas seized by water-nymphs. Colored marble pieces trace his twisting body as a nymph grasps his arm beside the jar he carried to draw water for Heracles. In the myth, the nymphs fall in love with Hylas’s beauty and pull him into their spring to keep him forever, leaving Heracles to search in vain. Such scenes joined domestic luxury to themes of desire and peril in the natural world.