Tristan Hughes

You know me, it's not bad.

It's not bad.

It's incredible.

What Tiziana has just pulled out is a large rectangular slab depicting an ancient Lucanian chariot race.

There are two chariots on opposite ends of the painting, each pulled by two horses.

One set of horses have red manes, the others have yellow.

The charioteers steer them with reins hunched over on very light chariots.

A majestic Doric column is painted in the middle of the scene, with both chariot teams racing towards it.

So what can I see here?

So I can see chariots and a column in the centre too.

So do we think many of the scenes, not just the chariots but also let's say sometimes the warriors, I mean all those things, do we think many of the scenes that are depicted on these tombs do have a relevance to the funerary games that would have accompanied the burying of that individual?

So not in a workshop far away.

These were made on site, basically, do we think?

And do we think this whole tradition of these beautifully coloured wall paintings, do we think there is an influence from the Greeks here too?

And then the Lucanians, they see it, but then they put their own twist on it with their own cultural ideas.

I mean, what do we think?

Do we think there is a link with the Greeks of Pestum here too?

admit the Lucanians compared to other peoples like the Romans, even the Etruscans, I haven't heard of them as much.

I'm guessing, are things like this invaluable for trying to learn more about this particular people who many of us haven't heard much of at all?

Too often, we can think of ancient Italy as just being Roman,