Archaeologists Unearth 2000-Year Old Fresco in Rome
March 7, 1998 - 0:0
ROME Italian archaeologists have stumbled on a richly colored wall fresco thought to be 2,000 years old, showing a detailed cityscape which experts say could be a birds-eye view of ancient Rome. The 3.6 meter-wide, 2.7 meter-high depiction of the walled city was discovered by an archaeologist as she helped excavate a dank passageway at the Trajan baths in Rome's historic center.
It was a very emotional moment I was working here excavating the passage last Friday and when the last lump of earth fell I saw the fresco straight away, said Elisabetta Carnabuci, 35. I saw the bridge on the left, the walls, the river, she told Reuters on Thursday at the site near the colosseum. A pale bridge resembling florence's Ponte Vecchio arches over an azure river in one corner of the fresco.
Elsewhere is a bright red theater with a white roof and a cluster of houses complete with windows and balconies. On the painting's right flank is a large city square of tomato-red buildings, built around a set of ochre daubs which archaeologists said represented bronze statues. The city wall is broken at one point by a gateway topped with cream bell-like towers.
It's impressionistic, said Rita Volpe, archaeologist at Rome City Council. The period is certainly the second half of the first century after Christ. The simple artwork is not technically outstanding but the fresco itself could offer an intriguing glimpse of the imperial Rome of two millennia ago, experts said. The painting technique does not seem exceptional, but it is exceptionally interesting from a documentary point of view, said Andrea Carandini, professor of archaeology at Rome's La Sapienza University, as he viewed the fresco.
It seems like a real city to me, he added. Carandini said the Fresco depicted either Rome, a part of the nearby domus aurea (golden house) a palace built by emperor Nero after the rome fire of AD 64 or another city. Nero, emperor from AD 54 to 68, committed suicide shortly after his sumptuous palace was finished. His successor Vespasian tore it down and built the colosseum on one of its lakes.
Trajan, who ruled Rome from 98-117, later built the baths on top of the rest of the complex. Archaeologists said the fresco almost certainly pre-dated Trajan, because when his baths were constructed the walls were bricked up, covering the painting. Volpe said it was unclear whether the artist had depicted Rome, or whether the cityscape was imaginary. It's certainly a city, but I can't say which city it is.
It could be an ideal city, she said. Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, professor of Roman history and director of the British school in Rome, told Reuters the descriptions he had heard of the fresco suggested it was unlikely to be a straight representation of the eternal city. I think the odds on it being rome are diminishing because we know so much about what Rome looked like.
Even from fragments you ought to be able to see, Wallace-Hadrill said. But even if it were a fantasy city, which would not be unprecedented in fresco painting, it remained highly important. It's a very exciting new discovery...from the description, it's something really unusual, he said, adding that the size was unusually large for a continuous piece of fresco since wall frescoes tended to be sub-divided into smaller sections.
La Sapienza University's professor Carandini said the chance find showed the Italian capital was a mine of hidden treasures. It is a fact that Rome is one enormous archaeological treasure trove, which remains completely undiscovered, he said. (Reuter)
It was a very emotional moment I was working here excavating the passage last Friday and when the last lump of earth fell I saw the fresco straight away, said Elisabetta Carnabuci, 35. I saw the bridge on the left, the walls, the river, she told Reuters on Thursday at the site near the colosseum. A pale bridge resembling florence's Ponte Vecchio arches over an azure river in one corner of the fresco.
Elsewhere is a bright red theater with a white roof and a cluster of houses complete with windows and balconies. On the painting's right flank is a large city square of tomato-red buildings, built around a set of ochre daubs which archaeologists said represented bronze statues. The city wall is broken at one point by a gateway topped with cream bell-like towers.
It's impressionistic, said Rita Volpe, archaeologist at Rome City Council. The period is certainly the second half of the first century after Christ. The simple artwork is not technically outstanding but the fresco itself could offer an intriguing glimpse of the imperial Rome of two millennia ago, experts said. The painting technique does not seem exceptional, but it is exceptionally interesting from a documentary point of view, said Andrea Carandini, professor of archaeology at Rome's La Sapienza University, as he viewed the fresco.
It seems like a real city to me, he added. Carandini said the Fresco depicted either Rome, a part of the nearby domus aurea (golden house) a palace built by emperor Nero after the rome fire of AD 64 or another city. Nero, emperor from AD 54 to 68, committed suicide shortly after his sumptuous palace was finished. His successor Vespasian tore it down and built the colosseum on one of its lakes.
Trajan, who ruled Rome from 98-117, later built the baths on top of the rest of the complex. Archaeologists said the fresco almost certainly pre-dated Trajan, because when his baths were constructed the walls were bricked up, covering the painting. Volpe said it was unclear whether the artist had depicted Rome, or whether the cityscape was imaginary. It's certainly a city, but I can't say which city it is.
It could be an ideal city, she said. Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, professor of Roman history and director of the British school in Rome, told Reuters the descriptions he had heard of the fresco suggested it was unlikely to be a straight representation of the eternal city. I think the odds on it being rome are diminishing because we know so much about what Rome looked like.
Even from fragments you ought to be able to see, Wallace-Hadrill said. But even if it were a fantasy city, which would not be unprecedented in fresco painting, it remained highly important. It's a very exciting new discovery...from the description, it's something really unusual, he said, adding that the size was unusually large for a continuous piece of fresco since wall frescoes tended to be sub-divided into smaller sections.
La Sapienza University's professor Carandini said the chance find showed the Italian capital was a mine of hidden treasures. It is a fact that Rome is one enormous archaeological treasure trove, which remains completely undiscovered, he said. (Reuter)