[4] When it was first fully unearthed and visible after the excavations conducted by Salvatore Aurigemma, from 22 June to 18 August 1914,[2] it was immediately seen as a masterpiece of mosaic art, but one that was in urgent need of preservation and restoration.

[7] Ville found that the short-sleeved tunic and the hunters with bare, unprotected legs seem to belong to the late 1st or early 2nd century AD, whereas the type of thraex and murmillo’s helmets seem to be intermediary between that of Pompeii and that of the gladiator of Trajan period.

[5] Another stylistic comparative analysis by Roman art historian Christine Kondoleon supports an Antonine period dating as a result of the mosaic's multiple design elements.

[5] This methodology is criticized by some scholars, including Roman art historian Katherine Dunbabin, for relying on overly broad stylistic parallels between the works.

One searches in vain for such a life (at least for such a degree of nobleness and power) in the other similar representations of gladiatorial combats (in painting and especially in sculpture) that have survived since antiquity to our days.

Within these panels are circular emblemata depicting fish and other marine creatures (shrimp, murex, picarel, conger, sea urchin, garfish etc...) in the opus vermiculatum technique.