Giambattista Tiepolo, La morte di Giacinto, Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, 1752 - 1753
Diver, ca 500-475 BC. Fresco, 110x220 cm. From Poseidonia. Cover slab of the Tomb of the Diver. Paestum (Salerno), National Archaeological Museum © Archaeological Park of Paestum and Velia / Ministry of Culture
THE TOMB OF THE DIVER
AT THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM OF PAESTUM: STILL A MYSTERY AFTER 25 CENTURIES by Calogero Pirrera
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he Tomb of the Diver was never intended for public viewing and discourse. The art that adorned the limestone slabs and the young man entombed within was meant to be buried and remain invisible for eternity. However, ever since the its discovery in 1968 in the Tempa del Prete Necropolis(a few kilometers from Paestum in Campania, which was known at the at the time as Poseidonia)it has been the subject of heated debate by archeologists and historians who have tried to understand its cryptic and enigmatic meaning. It has also gained fame as an exceptional and rare work of art that arouses the interest and curiosity of those who see it. The Tomb, dated around 500-475 B.C. thanks to
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the funerary relics it contained, is composed of five painted limestone slabs and takes its name from the image depicted on the inner face of the rectangular top, where a completely naked man is diving into a pool of water. The other four faces represent scenes of symposium typical in the life of adult Greek aristocrats. In them we find depicted all the characteristics of this fundamental socio-educational activity of the male Greek’s world: the symposiasts are lying on the klinai (Greek couches) in the presence of vases full of wine, some chatting while drinking, some playing wind or string instruments, while others make love. There is also a naked young servant carrying cups, and other characters caught in a forward gait that seems to be a dance (among
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