Frescoes with scenes from the Trojan War were discovered at excavations in Pompeii
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Archaeologists excavating in the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii have discovered a large hall, the walls of which are decorated with frescoes with heroes of the Trojan War. About it reports Press service of the Italian Ministry of Culture.
The find was made in a sector of the city where excavations were last carried out at the end of the 19th century. Archaeologists divide the entire city into nine districts; a hall with frescoes was discovered in the Ninth District, the area of which reaches 3 thousand square meters. m.
The room, 15 meters long and six meters wide, was found in a former mansion on Via di Nola, the longest road in ancient Pompeii. According to the director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the room was a banquet hall. On the floor of the banquet hall, archaeologists discovered an almost completely preserved mosaic of more than a million white tiles.
The walls of the hall are painted black. It is assumed that this was done in order to hide the soot from the lamps, which were used to illuminate the hall after sunset. One of the frescoes depicts Paris and Helen. Another fresco depicts Princess Cassandra paired with Apollo, who, according to myth, endowed her with the prophetic gift. Archaeologists believe that the frescoes found belong to the “third style” of Roman painting and date back to the period between 15 BC. and 40-50 years. AD
Gabriel Zuchtriegel explained that the mythological characters depicted on the walls were supposed to entertain guests during the feast and give them topics for conversation.
“People would meet for lunch after sunset. The flickering light of the lamps gave the impression that the images were moving, especially after several glasses of good Campanian wine,” said Mr. Zuchtriegel (quoted by The Guardian).
The ruins of Pompeii were discovered in the 16th century, and the first excavations began in 1748. Pompeii is the second most visited archaeological site in the world. During excavations in the same area of the city in the summer of 2023, archaeologists discovered a fresco with a still life that looked like a pizza. It is believed that this is a distant ancestor of the popular Italian dish.
Read more about this in the material “We will never use pineapple on pizza!”.
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