Archaeologists working at the ancient site of Pompeii unveiled their latest find Thursday: a formal dining room that offers a glimpse of how some of its wealthier residents lived, or at least the art they could meditate while they eat.
Painted pitch black to prevent soot from candle smoke, experts say, the walls are divided into panels. Some of them are decorated with couples associated with the Trojan War.
The dining room is part of an insula, equivalent to a city block, excavated in connection with a project to mark the perimeter between the excavated and unexcavated areas of the city, part of which remains in underground. The project will help better preserve the site.
“People meet to eat after sunset; the flickering light of the lamps has the effect of making the images appear to be moving, especially after a few glasses of fine Campanian wine,” said Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the director of Pompeii’s archaeological park, in a statement of news about the dining area. “Mythological couples gave ideas for conversations about the past and life, which seemed to be only of a romantic nature. In reality, they define the relationship between the individual and fate.
The couples include Helen of Troy and Paris, identified in the Greek inscription scene by her other name, Alexandros, while a panel on the same wall shows Helen’s parents: Leda, queen of Sparta, and Zeus, depicted as a swan. who flirted with him. Across the room, facing Helen, her servant and Paris — and a sad-looking dog — is Cassandra, who sees the future, with Apollo, who curses her not to believe her prophecies.
There is evidence that the room was part of a building that was being restored when Mount Vesuvius suddenly erupted, burying the city in pumice stones and ash in AD 79, Mr. Zuchtriegel said in a telephone interview.
“It looks like the entire insula was rebuilt at the moment of the explosion,” he said. Mr. Zuchtriegel said the reconstruction may have been the result of an earthquake that shook the city “a few months” before Vesuvius erupted.
Others recently excavated room adjacent to the dining room, archaeologists found stacked roof tiles, work tools, bricks and lime, discoveries that offer insight into ancient construction methods and the use of concrete.
Last year, different areas of the insula were excavated, offering a fresh understanding of how the ancient residents lived. For example, a room linked to a bakery suggests that some slaves lived next to donkeys in a dark room where the only window was covered with bars. A fresco in another room seems to show that the locals liked pizza, or at least some sort of prototype. Electoral inscriptions in the bakery indicate that buying votes is not unheard-of.
The frescoes in the dining room were painted in the so-called Third Style, which was popular in Pompeii from about 15 BC to the middle of the first century AD, Mr. Zuchtriegel said, and there is evidence that they were retouched and restored in ancient times.
“The colors are quite different, you can tell the difference,” he said.
The dining room is currently closed to the public as more excavation is underway.
“We don’t know what’s out there — that’s the big part,” Mr. Zuchtriegel said.