A black-walled banqueting hall decorated with scenes from Greek mythology, where ancient Romans feasted by candlelight, has been unearthed in Pompeii, the archeological park said on Thursday.
The exceptionally well-preserved frescoes show the god Apollo attempting to seduce Trojan priestess Cassandra, and Helen of Troy meeting Paris, an encounter that would lead to war.
“The mythical couples were starting points for talking about the past and life,” Archaeological Park of Pompeii director Gabriel Zuchtreigel said in a statement.
Photo: AFP / Parco Archeologico di Pompei press office
“The walls were black to prevent the smoke from the lamps on the walls from being seen,” he said.
“Here they gathered to feast after sunset, the flickering light of the lamps made the images seem to move, especially after a few glasses of good Campania wine,” Zuchtreigel said, referring to the southern Italian region.
Pompeii was devastated when nearby Mount Vesuvius erupted almost 2,000 years ago in 79AD.
Photo: AFP / Parco Archeologico di Pompei press office
The ash and rock helped preserve many buildings almost in their original state, as well as forming eerie shapes around the curled-up corpses of victims of the disaster, thought to number about 3,000.
The hall, with its nearly intact white mosaic floor, was discovered during an excavation that has also uncovered a bakery, a laundry and houses with sumptuous frescoed living rooms.
“Pompeii is truly a treasure chest that never ceases to surprise us and arouse amazement because, every time we dig, we find something beautiful and significant,” Italian Minister of Culture Gennaro Sanguiliano said.
Photo: AFP /Parco Archeologico di Pompei press office
The spacious hall shows “the high standard of living” in the domus, where building works had been under way when the volcano erupted, the park said.
It said the fresco themes appear to be heroism and destiny, with the relationship between individuals and fate embodied by Cassandra, who is cursed by Apollo for rejecting him, so that she can foresee the future, but is believed by no-one.
“The frequent presence of mythological figures on frescoes in the reception rooms of Roman houses had precisely the social function of entertaining guests and guests, providing subjects for conversation and reflection on the meaning of existence,” the park statement said.
The banqueting hall — which measures 15m by 6m — opens into a courtyard that appears to be an open-air service hallway, with a long staircase leading to the first floor.
A vast pile of construction materials was found set aside under the arches of the staircase.
“Someone had drawn in charcoal, on the rough plaster of the arches of the great staircase, two pairs of gladiators and what appears to be an enormous stylized phallus,” the statement said.
Pompeii is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the second-most visited tourist site in Italy, after the Colosseum in Rome.
Archeologists estimate that 15 to 20 percent of Pompeii’s population died in the eruption, mostly from thermal shock as a giant cloud of gases and ash covered the city.
ANGER: A video shared online showed residents in a neighborhood confronting the national security minister, attempting to drag her toward floodwaters Argentina’s port city of Bahia Blanca has been “destroyed” after being pummeled by a year’s worth of rain in a matter of hours, killing 13 and driving hundreds from their homes, authorities said on Saturday. Two young girls — reportedly aged four and one — were missing after possibly being swept away by floodwaters in the wake of Friday’s storm. The deluge left hospital rooms underwater, turned neighborhoods into islands and cut electricity to swaths of the city. Argentine Minister of National Security Patricia Bullrich said Bahia Blanca was “destroyed.” The death toll rose to 13 on Saturday, up from 10 on Friday, authorities
Two daughters of an Argentine mountaineer who died on an icy peak 40 years ago have retrieved his backpack from the spot — finding camera film inside that allowed them a glimpse of some of his final experiences. Guillermo Vieiro was 44 when he died in 1985 — as did his climbing partner — while descending Argentina’s Tupungato lava dome, one of the highest peaks in the Americas. Last year, his backpack was spotted on a slope by mountaineer Gabriela Cavallaro, who examined it and contacted Vieiro’s daughters Guadalupe, 40, and Azul, 44. Last month, the three set out with four other guides
Local officials from Russia’s ruling party have caused controversy by presenting mothers of soldiers killed in Ukraine with gifts of meat grinders, an appliance widely used to describe Russia’s brutal tactics on the front line. The United Russia party in the northern Murmansk region posted photographs on social media showing officials smiling as they visited bereaved mothers with gifts of flowers and boxed meat grinders for International Women’s Day on Saturday, which is widely celebrated in Russia. The post included a message thanking the “dear moms” for their “strength of spirit and the love you put into bringing up your sons.” It
DISASTROUS VISIT: The talks in Saudi Arabia come after an altercation at the White House that led to the Ukrainian president leaving without signing a minerals deal Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was due to arrive in Saudi Arabia yesterday, a day ahead of crucial talks between Ukrainian and US officials on ending the war with Russia. Highly anticipated negotiations today on resolving the three-year conflict would see US and Ukrainian officials meet for the first time since Zelenskiy’s disastrous White House visit last month. Zelenskiy yesterday said that he would meet Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the nation’s de facto leader, after which his team “will stay for a meeting on Tuesday with the American team.” At the talks in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, US
RSS