2024-04-11 20:58:04
Archaeologists have found an impressive banquet hall with black walls and mythological motifs from the Trojan War in ancient Pompeii. The room was recently discovered during excavations at an archaeological site near Mount Vesuvius and has now been revealed in all its glory, the Italian Ministry of Culture announced Thursday, according to APA.
Archaeologists said that the discovered frescoes are among the most beautiful found in the ruins of the ancient city. The nearly complete mosaic floor of the room contains more than a million individual white tiles. The black banquet hall is approximately 15 meters long and six meters wide.
The frescoes and mosaic date from the 3rd century AD. Their age can be deduced based on the artistic quality, execution and choice of motifs. The theme of heroism prevails. The gods and heroes of the Trojan War are depicted. Next to Helen of Troy and Paris, Kassandra, daughter of Priam, is depicted on the walls together with the god Apollo.
In the captured scene, the god is trying to seduce the beautiful priestess Kassandra. According to the fable, Kassandra promised him her love if Apollo would endow her with an oracle spirit. When she rejected him, her ability to predict the future did not disappear, but Apollo punished her by saying that no one believed her prophecies, even though they always came true without a trace.
The mythological figures on the walls of the common rooms were intended to entertain the guests and serve as the subject of subsequent debates and conversations, explains the APA agency. The discovered banquet hall leads to an inner block where there was a corridor for servants, with a long flight of stairs leading to the first floor of the building.
Chief restorer Roberta Priscová tried to prevent one arch from collapsing this week. “It’s a huge responsibility, look at me,” she said, as if to suggest that the stress had taken a visible toll on her. “We have a passion and a deep love for what we do. What we uncover and protect here will bring joy to the generations that will come after us,” explains the restorer.
The archaeological park of Pompeii near Naples, which is also a UNESCO monument, is one of the most visited places in Italy. After the Roman Colosseum, it is the second most visited Italian landmark.
Pompeii, along with the Roman cities of Herculaneum, Stabiae and Oplontis, were destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. The disaster caught the unprepared residents by surprise, and many of them faithfully captured the frozen ash in their last moments of life. Three thousand people died in the accident. The city covered in volcanic ash was only discovered in the 18th century.