Some drawings representing gladiators or hunters, painted by children with charcoal on the walls of a patio in one of the houses in Pompeii, are the latest archaeological discovery in the city in southern Italy destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in the year 79.
The drawings were discovered in the Cenacle house, on the island of Los Chaste lovers, and help to better understand childhood in Roman times and exposure to extreme forms of violence, including that of these young children (estimated between 5 and 7 years old) who went to the amphitheater to enjoy the battles, explain researchers from the archaeological area. In the statement about the discovery published this Tuesday, it is explained that “in ancient times the blood spilled in the sand was real” but “that few saw it as a problem” that children were the ones who witnessed it for pure entertainment. Researchers have concluded that they possibly saw these images firsthand, and not in other pictorial portraits.
The drawings show, in addition to gladiator fights on a long wall, the vestiges of three small hands, two people playing with a ball, a scene of hunting an animal that resembles a bear and another of apparently two boxers on the ground. .
On the island of chaste lovers where the drawings have been found after a restoration process, an accessibility project has also begun and can now be visited “from above” thanks to a system of suspended walkways, which can be taken up by elevator. In addition to the children’s drawings, for the study of which the archaeological park has initiated a collaboration with the department of child neuropsychiatry of the Federico II University of Naples, “the remains of two victims are preserved, a woman and a man, who died during the eruption” in front of the door of the Worker Painters’ house (so called because it was being repainted at the time of the end).
Among the mythological scenes found is a singular painting, unparalleled in the Vesuvian repertoire, which represents a small hooded child, possibly the deceased son of the owners. A step forward in the routine stories that the destroyed city, one of the great tourist attractions of Italy, continues to tell.
“The tour from the heights will allow an innovative and global vision of the entire island as well as the architecture of the Roman houses with the alternation of various environments intended for different uses, from productive to commercial to residential, as well as the activity “work in progress, with a view to renewed and better use by the public,” they explained in the statement about the opening of a new stay in the city.
“Periodically and increasingly, Pompeii reveals new and wonderful discoveries and confirms itself as an extraordinary treasure chest,” noted the Italian Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano: “That is why in the budgets we have expressly refinanced the excavations in Pompeii, where there are now so many active works, which day after day bring new wonders to general attention.”
