Archaeologists unearthed the Black Room in Pompeii

Archaeologists working on the excavations of Pompeii have reported on their latest discoveries. This time, the so-called Black Room was presented to the public in one of the richest houses of the lost city known today. The frescoes, uncovered from under the ash and lava, are already called the main discovery of this generation of Pompeian archaeologists. Tells Kira Dolinina.

The Black Room (6 m x 15 m) is part of the rooms discovered as a result of 12 months of excavations in the so-called IX region of Pompeii. It is a neighborhood of wealthy residential and commercial buildings. The house in which the Black Room is located combines both of these functions: a third of the house is a large bakery and laundry, clearly not intended for individual consumption, the rest is a private area with several state rooms, living rooms and a garden. The Black Room itself is most likely a ceremonial triclinium, a “banquet hall”, and archaeologists explain the use of such a dull black color for its walls with the desire to hide the dark coating from the soot of oil lamps – that is, this room could be used mainly in the evening and at night, Moreover, there is also a bright main hall in the house. The owner of the house is also known: his initials ARV (Aulus Rustius Verus) were already found in Pompeii, it is known that he was a significant political figure.

Pompeii was destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius on August 24, 79. The city began to be excavated in the 16th century, and in 1760 the practice of open excavation was introduced, which made it possible to see and preserve the appearance of the emerging city. The most active work continued almost until the end of Napoleonic rule, and there were so many finds that it became possible to form an idea of ​​the “Pompeian style” from their material: reinforced with bold Roman purple and gold, Pompeii and Herculaneum gave us the Empire style. Excavations have not stopped to this day; entire areas of the cities killed by Vesuvius have not yet been discovered.

The penultimate sensation was the amazingly erotic scene of the meeting between Leda and the swan, revealed in 2018 in the V district. The frescoes of the Black Room are much more intact and, at first glance, more interesting. In the black haze of the background above the white mosaic floor float the pastel gentle figures of Homer’s heroes. To date, three plots have been revealed: Leda and Zeus in the form of a swan, from whose union Helen the Beautiful was born; Apollo trying to seduce Cassandra (in retaliation for the refusal, God cursed the soothsayer, and they stopped believing her predictions, including her brother Paris, aka Alexander, who did not believe her, which ultimately led to the Trojan War); and the scene of Paris meeting Helen. Stylistically, these frescoes belong to the so-called Third Period of Roman painting, which dates from approximately 20 BC. e. and 60 AD e. A distinctive feature of this “ornamental style” was illusory, playing with imitation of architectural and decorative details. The blackness of the background of the new Pompeian masterpieces reveals carved beams, shadowed pillars and shining candelabra, all painted on flat walls. However, most often, frescoes of this style play with trompe l’oeil much more actively: small “paintings” are inscribed into the “architecture” of the room in a crude and deliberate manner. The black room in this sense is itself a mystery, like the inside of a box that only a select few can open.

The Black Room isn’t the only discovery in Pompeii in recent seasons. House of Aulus Rustius Vera asked the scientists many questions. Judging by the neatly stacked tile blocks, the building was being repaired at the time of the volcanic eruption. Some of the walls survived, but the painted lampshade of one of the rooms was broken. Today, archaeologists are assembling the frescoes of this ceiling like a puzzle: those parts that are already ready confirm the connection with the “ornamental style,” but they are completely different than in the Black Room – there are flowers, fruits, theatrical masks, everything is very bright and festive.

In the presentation of new discoveries, archaeologists talked about dozens of other important finds, many of which will be included in the arsenal of emotional artifacts rather than purely historical ones. Pompeii is the pinnacle of archaeological science and the same pinnacle of history as such. A city that perished almost overnight, people caught in the act, whose bodies left legible voids in the ashen fossil, things that remained where they were last used, the houses of rich and poor, temples and shops. The reality of what happened to these things two thousand years ago is so tangible that it is the first thing you experience when looking at them. This iron “boiler” could still be warm when it boomed. Children played under these frescoes. This gladiator helmet might not yet have been washed from the blood of the enemy that had poured onto it the day before during the battles. A theatrical mask was swinging on a nail in the wall. The builders straightened the horizontal and vertical lines of the walls with a heavy tin plumb line. These are traces of history in “real time”. And this most important science, alas, so rarely gets the opportunity to work with facts of such a degree of authenticity.