Dr. Catherine Lomas

It dates to the 5th century BC and we hear so much about, you know, Greek war painting from literary sources, but actually, you know, pretty much nothing survives.

But here in southern Italy, there you have, you know, an example that is still so well preserved.

Exactly.

I mean, this was preserved so well because it was in a tomb, right?

So the context was sealed.

And until 1968, when the tomb was discovered, when the tomb was excavated, its colours just kind of stayed hidden below the ground.

Exactly.

This is the diver.

This is a diving scene.

But first of all, let's just try and imagine this tomb.

This is the lid.

And this is the interior side of the lid.

Exactly.

The figure of the diver would have been right above the deceased's face.

So the tomb was decorated on the inside.

So its interior walls were decorated with frescoes.

And this in particular was, as I said, the lid.

So there you have, you know, the diver.

This is a very special painting and it's become, over the years, almost like an icon of the archaeological park of Pestum.

Yeah, so here we have, as you said, you know, we've got this sort of tower, this platform, and the diver, you know, has just jumped off that platform, exactly.