ART The Tomb Of The Diver

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

The 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 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

Farewell scene, ca 500-475 BC. Fresco, 80x100 cm. From Poseidonia. Western wall of the Tomb of the Diver. Paestum (Salerno), National Archaeological Museum © Archaeological Park of Paestum and Velia / Ministry of Culture

Scene of a symposium, ca 500-475 BC. Fresco, 80x225 cm. From Poseidonia. Southern wall of the Tomb of the Diver Paestum (Salerno), National Archaeological Museum © Archaeological Park of Paestum and Velia / Ministry of Culture

Young man carrying a drink, ca 500-475 BC. Fresco, 80x100 cm. From Poseidonia. East wall of the Tomb of the Diver. Paestum (Salerno), National Archaeological Museum © Archaeological Park of Paestum and Velia / Ministry of Culture

them may be a young female musician). Others are depicted playing kottabos, a game common at ancient Greek symposia that involved flinging the wine sediment from the bottom of ones glass onto a target in the middle of the room, often for a prize or a wager. The critical discussion on the Tomb of the Diver initially arose with regard to the style of the paintings, considered both a very rare example of funerary painting, and a masterpiece of Magna-Greek painting of the classical era (a Greek painting of which very few traces remain, but described in detail by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia). Added to the discussion is the artist’s technical execution of the work, with its dependence on contemporary ceramic techniques of the time, and the fact that it is a unique example of funerary art similar to Etruscan tomb artifacts, in particular with the paintings from the Tomb of Hunting and Fishing at the Monterozzi Necropolis in Tarquinia, northwest of Rome. The Paestum work, which has characteristics from Greek symposia culture as well as the Etruscan and Italic way of plastering and painting tombs with figures, creates ambiguity, mystery, and above all a relic which stirs a lively debate. Some experts have associated the paintings from the tomb with the mystery

Scene of Symposium, ca 500-475 BC. Fresco, 80x225 cm. From Poseidonia. North wall of the Tomb of the Diver. Paestum (Salerno), National Archaeological Museum © Archaeological Park of Paestum and Velia/Ministry of Culture

cults of Orpheus, while others have stated that the images are nothing more than a realistic expression of a banquet scene where one can interpret the symbolic passage of life to death in the diver’s plunge on the inside of the tomb’s lid. The “Dionysian mystery” interpretation of the images of the tomb is perhaps the most fascinating, although still much debated. Historical evidence of an “Orphic Cult” has been found in several tombs in the region, which according to some archaeologists reflects the desire of the deceased to reach an afterlife through a secret ritual. Followers of these sects linked to Dionysus and Orpheus wanted to achieve a state of bliss denied to those who did not participate in that particular mysterious cult, i.e. most men who after death would reach Hades and an eternity of torment. There were several musical instruments depicted in the paintings of the tomb of the diver, including a lyra, an ancient instrument known to be connected to the figure of the mythical singer Orpheus. The tomb, which may have belonged to a local devotee of arts and culture, and practitioner of Hellenic customs, is certainly an important point of contact between Greek and Italic civilizations. It remains open to discussion, as there is no unambiguous or universally accepted interpretation of the tomb’s artwork and its meaning. This is perhaps one of the reasons it continues to amaze, intrigue and inspire the scholars who study it, as well as the many visitors who travel to Paestum to admire it. The fascination brought on by the Tomb of the Diver probably also has to do with the discovery of an intimacy far removed in time, which the occupant wanted to hide from the eyes of those who would come after him. It has to do with the mystery of death, and the secret aspirations of an individual from whom we are left with only what he wanted to hide for eternity.