Roman Frescoes Uncovered in Banquet Hall in Pompeii

Archaeologists working in Pompeii have uncovered an ancient banquet hall decorated with stunning and well-preserved Roman frescoes depicting mythological characters from the Trojan War. The roughly fifty-by-twenty-foot dining room, which was buried in volcanic ash following the 79 CE eruption of Mount Vesuvius, “provided a refined setting for entertainment during convivial moments, whether banquets or conversations,” according to astatementfrom the Pompeii archaeological park, where the excavation is being carried out.

The frescoes include the figures of Helen and Paris, pictured together, and Cassandra and Apollo, also portrayed in tandem, and appear on walls that have been painted black. The hue was meant to hide smoke stains produced by oil lamps, according to park director Gabriel Zuchtriegel. “People would meet to dine after sunset,” he explained, and “the flickering light of the lamps had the effect of making the images appear to move, especially after a few glasses of good Campanian wine.”The dark walls contrast with the room’s white floor, made up of more than a million tiles.

“The mythological couples provided ideas for conversations about the past and life, only seemingly of a merely romantic nature,” said Zuchtriegel. “In reality, they refer to the relationship between the individual and fate: Cassandra who can see the future but no one believes her, Apollo who sides with the Trojans against the Greek invaders, but being a god, cannot ensure victory, Helen and Paris who, despite their politically incorrect love affair, are the cause of the war, or perhaps merely a pretext. Who knows? These days, Helen and Paris represent us all: each day we can choose whether to focus solely on our own private lives or whether to explore the way our lives are entangled with the broad sweep of history, thinking for example, not just of war and politics, or of the environment, but also of the atmosphere we are creating in our society, communicating with others in real time and on social networks.”

The site at Pompeii, which UNESCO lists as a World Heritage site, comprises 1,070 residential units together containing more than 13,000 rooms, as well as public and sacred spaces. The banquet hall opens onto an unroofed courtyard featuring an undecorated staircase and is in the same area as two interconnected houses, one of which contains a bakery and a laundromat. Less refined forms were also uncovered at the site, among them a charcoal drawing of two gladiators and a massive phallus.