A still life fresco emerges from the Pompeii excavations. Supposedly depicted is a focaccia

A still life fresco on the wall of an ancient Pompeian house has surfaced in recent days as part of new excavations inInsula 10 of Regio IX in Pompeii Archaeological Park. The fresco was found in the atrium of a house in Insula 10 of Regio IX under excavation, to which a bakery was attached, which had already been partially explored between 1888 and 1891 and whose investigations were resumed last January. The structures excavated in the nineteenth century and partially exposed already suggested the presence of a large atrium with the classic succession of rooms on the eastern side and, on the opposite side, the entrance to the productive sector of the bakery. The atrium was cleared of material from the nineteenth-century excavations revealing the collapse of the roofs, within the white pumice layer and a residual portion of the volcanic flow layers (cinerites) in the southern sector. The skeletons of three victims were found in the processing rooms near the kiln in the past weeks.

As the park’s archaeologists explain, a flatbread is supposedly depicted next to a wine goblet resting on a silver tray, serving as a holder for various fruits (identifiable a pomegranate and perhaps a date), seasoned with spices or perhaps rather with a type of pesto(moretum in Latin), indicated by yellowish and ochre-colored dots. Also present on the same tray are dried fruits and a garland of yellow strawberry trees, alongside dates and pomegranates. This kind of imagery, known in ancient times by the name xenia, took its cue from the “hospitable gifts” offered to guests according to a Greek tradition dating back to the Hellenistic period (3rd-1st century BCE). About three hundred of these depictions are known from the Vesuvian cities, often alluding to the sacred sphere as well as hospitality, with no timely comparison for the recently discovered fresco, which is also striking for its remarkable quality of execution, among the attestations found so far.

From a passage in Virgil’sAeneid (book VII, v. 128 ff.), one can infer the placement of fruit and other products of the fields on sacrificial loaves that serve as “canteens”: at the moment when the Trojan heroes eat after the fruit, even the loaves used as containers (canteens) , they realize in the Virgilian epos, that the prophecy that they would find a new homeland had been fulfilled, when “driven to unknown shores, having exhausted all food,” hunger would lead them to “devour even the canteens.”

“Pompeii never ceases to amaze, it is a treasure chest that always reveals new treasures,” commented Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano. “Beyond the question of merit on which scholars will speak, the global value of this site to which we are devoting our care should be emphasized, with the closure of the Great Pompeii Project but also with the launch of new initiatives. The protection and development of heritage, in deference to Article 9 of the Constitution, is a top priority.”

“In addition to the precise identification of the foods depicted,” explained Pompeii Archaeological Park Director Gabriel Zuchtriegel, “we find in this fresco some themes from the Hellenistic tradition, later elaborated by authors of the Roman-Imperial period such as Virgil, Martial and Philostratus. I am thinking of the contrast between a frugal and simple meal, which refers to a sphere between the bucolic and the sacred, on the one hand, and the luxury of silver trays and the refinement of artistic and literary representations on the other. How can we not think, in this regard, of pizza, which also originated as a ’poor’ dish in southern Italy, and which has now conquered the world and is served even in starred restaurants.”

A still life fresco emerges from the Pompeii excavations. Supposedly depicted is a focaccia

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