Naked servant painting revealed in newly-discovered ancient tomb mural

The painting of the naked servant carrying a jug (© E. Lupoli, Jean Bérard Centre [CNRS/École française de Rome])

A depiction of a naked servant carrying a jug of wine has been discovered on the wall of a 2,200-year-old tomb in Southern Italy.

The painted tomb, which dates back to the 2nd century B.C., depicts a banquet scene, according to archaeologists. It is located in the city of Cumae, which was a major ancient Greek colony on the Italian mainland. Cumae, which is 15 miles west of Naples, later became a Roman city.

The latest finds in an archaeological dig that began in 2001 are shedding new light on the ancient metropolis. Researchers from the Jean Berard Centre in Naples and the Collège de France in Paris were exploring a Roman-era necropolis at the Cumae site when they discovered the naked figure painted on the wall of a tomb.

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The Jean Berard Centre is joint project of the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and the Ecole Francaise de Rome.

Painted burial chamber excavated in 2018 (© E. Lupoli, Jean Bérard Centre [CNRS/École française de Rome])

“Among the hundreds of ancient sepulchers unearthed since 2001, they have discovered a series of vaulted burial chambers made of tuff, a volcanic stone found in the area,” explained the CNRS, in a statement. “Until now, only tombs painted red or white had been found, but in June 2018 researchers discovered a room with exceptionally executed figure painting.”

The naked servant is depicted at one end of the tomb next to a krater, or vase, on a stand. “The banquet's guests are thought to have been painted on the side walls,” explains CNRS, in its statement. “In addition to the excellent state of conservation of the remaining plaster and pigments, such a décor in a tomb built in that period is rare; its ‘unfashionable’ subject matter was in vogue one or two centuries earlier.”

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Archaeologists have removed the fresco for preservation, along with fragments found on the ground.

The mural is the just the latest fascinating Roman-era find in Italy. Hundreds of Roman gold coins, for example, were recently unearthed in the basement of an Italian theater. Earlier this year, images of a man’s skeleton, apparently crushed by a rock during the ancient eruption of Mount Vesuvius, went viral after their discovery.

Archaeologists also recently unearthed the final resting place of an ancient racehorse among the ruins of Pompeii.

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Last year, construction of Rome's new subway unearthed the charred ruins of an early 3rd-century building and the 1,800-year-old skeleton of a crouching dog that apparently perished in the same blaze that collapsed the structure.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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