Photos of the Rare Tomb of The Diver Ancient Greek Fresco

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Photos of the Rare Tomb of The Diver Ancient Greek Fresco Coffin Painting, Necropolis of Paestum, Italy. Photos by photographer Paul E Williams. (TIP – use the icons below the slideshow for thumbnail photos and info)

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Photos of the Tomb of The Diver Ancient Greek Fresco

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Photos of the spectacular Greek painted Tomb of the Diver from the Necropolis of Paestum, Italy.

The frescoes of the “Tomb of the Diver” are unique in the Ancient Greek archaeology. The style of painting reveals its Greek cultural roots but it is the only known example of Greek painting with people depicted in it. Somehow the remarkable Tomb of the diver has served in tact for 2400 years.

The style of the fresco of the Tomb of the Diver comes from the Greek archaic period. The figures are painted with angular poses and the pairs of figures depicted in profile. The outline and the details are typical of the Archaic Era.

Tomb of the Diver Reconstruction

In this photo gallery you will find photos where I have put the panels of the tomb back together again. There is a view into the tomb form opposite sides to show how it would have looked originally

Tomb of the Diver Scenes

On the long walls of the tomb were painted banqueting scenes known as symposium. Pairs of men recline on couches conversing, eating drinking, flirting, playing or listening to music.

On one of the end walls a male figure pours wine from a wreathed crater. The Symposium was an Ancient Greek ritualised feast that was an important social event enjoyed by the elite males. The Symposium scenes from the tomb show a stereotypical Greek communal event at the heart of Greek culture.

Ancient Greek Male Love

On the other Symposium panel there is a sense of sexuality between 2 male figures who look longingly at each other. The scenes could depict the next world where pleasure rules and the deceased will be reborn.

On the other end panel there is a cortege made up of a naked young man with a short blue cape proceeded by a flutist and followed by a pedagogue leaning on a cane. This could be a procession with the deceased being led to the next world by a boy playing the song of Eros. This would link the earthly scenes of the Symposium with the next world of the spirit.

The Diving Man

The fresco on the inside of the lid of the Tomb of the Diver depicts a young man diving into the Ocean. The diving figure could represent the deceased and the dive represents a metaphor for the passage from life to death, from the physical to the spiritual world.

The Tomb of the Diver frescoes though have an emotional content which is not typical of the Archaic Era. The Frescoes depict the emotions of sensuality and earthly pleasures.

The absolute meaning of the frescoes of “The Tomb of the Diver” can only be guessed by academics but it is for sure that they have meaning and possibly have a narrative that relates to the passage from life to death. The Greeks believed, according to the contemporary poet Semonides, that “painting is silent poetry and poetry is painting that speaks”.