Wall paint: Pompeian pizza or just bread?

But why is there a fruit-topped flatbread? Flatbread may serve as a base for the food. In any case, this is what the Roman writer Virgil described in his book «The Aeneid». The whole epic tells how the hero Aeneas came to the Italian peninsula after the fall of Troy, and thus became the ancestor of the Romans. Thus the Roman “pizza” could refer to a dish that was important in the legendary founding of Rome.

The image is also likely to create contrast, explains archaeological park chief Gabriel Breeding Bar In a press release. The modest meal, which according to Roman ideas creates a rustic country field and at the same time a sacred domain, forms a contrast with the luxurious crockery, the finely painted portrait and the literary tradition. “In this context,” the archaeologist continues, “how can one not think of pizza, which also originated as a ‘poor’ dish in southern Italy and has now invaded the world and is also served in starred restaurants.” A hint of a breeding bar can give reason to recognize the precursors of pizza in the photo. Perhaps this was not the case As noted by Spiegel.who, meanwhile, posted another message about Pompeian pizza.

In any case, the newfound still life is not a one-off. About 300 such representations are known from the ancient cities below Vesuvius. Excavations have been taking place there since the eighteenth century. Vesuvius erupted in AD 79, and ash and pumice a meter thick lay on the plain below the volcano and buried the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Stabia, and Oplontis.