Music from the Mosaics: Diaeta of Orpheus at Villa del Casale, Piazza Armerina, in the context of soundscape and musical performance

Abstract

The article investigates the Diaeta of Orpheus at the Villa del Casale through the study of function, musical performance and soundscape complemented by digital acoustic simulation executed in EASE 4.4 software. Interdisciplinary study consists as well of analysis of depicted instruments and explaining musical praxis in Late Antique context. The study situates the Diaeta of Orpheus within broader framework by examining its architecture, furnishing and placement within villa’s microtopography.
Results of acoustic experiment reveal long reverberation times and poor speech intelligibility, indicating that the room was not optimized for musical performance but rather for multifunctional convivial use enriched by ambient sound, water features, and low-resonance instruments such as the lyre.