The Diver Paestum, Italy
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The top slab is the Diver. The five slabs formed a tomb 7.1ft X 3.3ft X 2.6ft. The inside of the top slab shows the Diver leaping from a platform into the blue of water. All five of the interior paintings were created using fresco techniques.
A bit about Paestum. The original settlement by the Greeks, Poseidonia, was also located by the sea about 2,500 years ago. Poseidonia, as Paestum was first known, is actually about two miles northwest inland from the present day city. Paestum was a major port and trading center for the Greeks and later the Romans, covering nearly 300 acres. Paestum flourished during its first few hundred years. Over time, the sea access filled with sediment, creating marshes and the ships could no longer reach the community.
On the south wall are five men reclining on couches, continuing to enjoy the symposium (the drinking/dancing/entertainment/etc. which takes place following a banquet).
As the trade routes shifted, Paestum was abandoned in the early Middle Ages. What is left is one of the largest examples of Greek and Roman architecture in Italy. The archeological site contains the Temples of Hera and Neptune on the southern end, and stretches about a quarter mile to the Temple of Ceres on the northern end. In between are located the remains of the Rose Garden, the Forum, the Sanctuary of Fortunas Virilis (pool), a section of the Amphitheater (a road, now the SP276 was built across it in 1930), the Ekklesiasterion (a place of meeting and assembly in Greek tradition), a Greek memorial tomb, and finally the Temple of Ceres.
On the north wall are five men engaged in celebration. The man on left is playing a game called Kottabos where wine is tossed at a target. On the right couch are two men, one resisting the advances of the other.
There were important tasks which needed to be accomplished 2,500 years ago with the oversight of the gods on a day-to-day basis such as: childbirth (Artemis-Greek/Diana -Roman), protection and wars (Ares-Greek/Mars-Roman), agriculture (Demeter-Greek/Ceres-Roman) or simply leadership (Zeus-Greek/Jupiter-Roman). This was also a time when an accident, illness, even something as simple as an infected tooth could result in death. To most people the gods they sacrificed to were there for their day-to-day survival, to help and support them.
The four wall scenes in the Diver’s tomb depict a happy, peaceful, relaxed event. They are enjoying themselves. The scenes depicted in the wall frescos are a far cry from the day-to-day stress which would be impacting the lives of most people living in Paestum 2,500 years ago. Set over this scene of revelry is the fifth stone, the Diver, showing a man diving from a platform into the blue of the water. The Diver fresco conveys the expectation of something wonderful and pleasing about to be experienced.
On the west wall are an elder (he has a cane) and young naked man accompanying a woman playing a flute. They are either entering or leaving the symposium.
I keep looking at the fresco of the diver and find myself wondering what the people of his time thought about life, death and existence after death. There are many references to an afterlife in the ancient world. Examples include the Indo-European religions reaching back over 6,000 years on the Italian peninsula which included the concept of the Otherworld, sometimes referred to as the Otherside.
What is on the other side depended on the believers. The Otherworld could have peaceful meadows, islands or buildings, communities, cities, or entire civilizations. I like the Irish expectation of a paradise fairyland. The Celtic tradition says the Otherworld is an island, out to the west, which even appeared on some maps of Ireland during the Middle Ages.
The concepts of the Otherworld or Otherside are as varied as the inhabitants of an area. Depending on the people/tribe there could be a giant World Tree connecting layers of humanity past, present and future existence. Often there was a river to be crossed or mountains to be traversed.
There was usually a guard, sometime a guide. The common assistant in Persian, Greek, Germanic, Celtic was an old man who would row the new arrival across the river. The river held various aspects. Some believed that during the crossing, water washed away sins. Others believed that crossing the water washed away memories, but gave the passenger new inspiration. Dogs were often guides leading the person down their path, or as in Greek mythology, there was Cerberus, a three headed hound who guarded Hades.
Mycenae tombs dating back to the 1740 and 1450 BCE hold references to the Birth of the World. Chaos gives birth to the goddess Gaia who them gives birth to the god Uranus and together they bring the world into existence around 1800 to 1710 BCE. Mankind comes into existence between 1710 and 1674 BCE. Hades, both the god and the place where the spirit goes after death, enter into the mythology around 800 BCE. By the time our Diver takes his plunge into the afterlife around 500 BCE the concept of an afterlife is well established.
Hades the god, is one of the three main Greek gods along with brothers Zeus (the sky) and Poseidon (the sea). The realm of Hades has various descriptions ranging from the Asphodel Meadows, which according to Homer’s Odyssey, most of the deceased dwell in a field of asphodel flowers, or a field of ash. Another place in Hades, the Elysian Fields, is a paradise where the privileged go to dwell for eternity.
The concept of an afterlife is not new, nor is it exclusive to Christianity. Ever since humans were able to look at the stars at night, or gaze into the oceans horizon we have always wondered what is out there. What is next? At some point in time all of us will approach the transition. I hope I am able to do it as well as the Diver did.