In this artwork, how is the The woman portrait of the Mosaic description elucidated?
There are at least two theories about the subject portrayed in the mosaic. According to the historian and archaeologist Moikom Zeqo, the woman represented in the mosaic is the same as one painted on archetypes of amphorae in Apulia and other parts of Southern Italy, with red figures of the Hellenistic era. According to him, the Beauty of Durrës represents the Cretan goddess Eileithyia, who was goddess of childbirth and midwifery, assisting in the healthy delivery of infants.
However, the archaeologist Afrim Hoti suggests that the portrait of the woman is probably the maiden Aura, a companion of the goddess Artemis in hunting.The woman’s head is large in scale, with a broad face and wide cheeks. She has a long straight neck, and her head is slightly turned to the left side, creating a three-quarters portrait.
Her image appears quiet and peaceful and her look is dreamy, almost melancholic. The figure is depicted with glossy red curved lips. The painstakingly elaborated plasticity of the lips, the lusciousness of their form and their slightly open position, gives her an exceptionally feminine physiognomy. A single small yellow and red pebble in the pupil of her eye creates a genuinely rare look on the woman's figure.
Her braided crown of auburn hair is particularly well depicted and quite distinguished from the black background through the usage of a white silhouette. The plastic effect of 
the mosaic’s female figure in its whole integrity, represents a work of highly developed artistic craftsmanship for the time.
Hellenistic era Southern Italy amphorae mosaic melancholic craftsmanship Artemis midwifery Apulia Eileithyia auburn hair archetypes silhouette Durrës Cretan physiognomy pupil archaeologist goddess Artemis feminine braid