Helen, Paris and Apollo with the unfortunate Cassandra (3 photos)

New frescoes with mythical heroes found in Pompeii





About a third of Pompeii's territory is still hidden under volcanic sedimentary rocks. During a new stage of large-scale excavations, archaeologists found a large banquet hall with black walls, which are decorated with perfectly preserved frescoes with heroes of ancient Greek myths about the Trojan War.

In one of the frescoes, Apollo is trying to seduce the Trojan princess Cassandra, whom he endowed with the gift of foreseeing the future. When Cassandra, who predicted the death of Troy, rejected Apollo, he made sure that no one believed her prophecies.



The tragic consequences of this unbelief are represented in another fresco, depicting the first meeting of the Trojan prince Paris with Helen the Beautiful - their secret flight, according to Cassandra's predictions, will lead to the outbreak of the Trojan War. At the feet of Paris lies a large dog, and above its head there is a Greek inscription: “Alexandros” (the nickname of Paris).





The so-called “Black Hall,” which is called one of the most sensational finds of all the excavations in Pompeii, is a room 15 meters long and 6 meters wide, the walls of which are painted black, against which the colored frescoes look especially impressive, and the floor covered with more than a million tiny white mosaic tiles.

According to scientists, the black color of the walls of the hall, which was most likely used for social events, was supposed to mask the soot from the many oil lamps that illuminated the room after sunset.

In his opinion, the scenes and characters depicted on the frescoes were supposed to entertain guests and serve as topics for conversation.

As archaeologists suggest, the “Black Hall” was part of a huge complex of buildings and premises that occupied an entire block and belonged to Aulus Rustius Verus, a very wealthy Pompeian politician. Numerous ARV initials appear on the walls of a previously excavated bakery, laundry, and living rooms of the luxury residence. Interestingly, at the time of the eruption of Vesuvius, the Vera residence was undergoing renovations - the escaped workers left piles of tiles, building materials, barrels of lime mortar, and tools in the corners of the rooms.

Text author: Tanya Shcheglova

Based on materials from the BBC.