Updated on October 13, 2023 · 4:00 p.m. · Reading:
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As part of the program “Completion and adaptation of the water supply system of the Flegreo Domitiana area”, carried out by the company Acqua Campania SpA in the Italian municipality of Giugliano in Campania, near Naples, An exceptional grave was uncovered, intact and in a very good state of preservation. The discovery was possible thanks to the previous archaeological survey in this area, where numerous burials are concentrated, carried out by the archaeologist Simona Formola of the Superintendence of the Metropolitan Region of Naples.
Cerberus, the monstrous dog who guarded the underworld
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The tomb was located on the edge of the necropolis, where archaeologists initially thought it was the upper part of a wall constructed using opus incertum (an ancient Roman construction technique that used irregularly cut and randomly placed ashlars). But the reality was different. What looked like a wall actually turned out to be the facade of a tomb monumental chamber, sealed with a tuff slab.
Image of the entrance to the recently discovered tomb at Giugliano in Campania.
Image of the entrance to the recently discovered tomb at Giugliano in Campania.
Soprintendenza Archeologia Beautiful Arti and Paesaggio for the Naples Metropolitan Area
well preserved and intact
The first to enter the tomb was the Superintendent of Fine Arts of the Metropolitan Area of Naples, Mariano Nuzzo, who declared: “The emotions that the privilege of such a discovery evokes are indescribable.” The Giugliano areaAfter years of forgetting, eventually restores significant remains its glorious past, which should be preserved and protected thanks to a joint effort.
“The emotions evoked by the privilege of such a discovery are indescribable,” said Superintendent Mariano Nuzzo.
Inside the tomb you can admire a fresco depicting two ichthyocentaurs, mythological creatures with a human torso, horse legs and a fish tail.
Inside the tomb you can admire a fresco depicting two ichthyocentaurs, mythological creatures with a human torso, horse legs and a fish tail.
Soprintendenza Archeologia Beautiful Arti and Paesaggio for the Naples Metropolitan Area
The interior of the tomb, whose state of preservation is great, shows the painted ceilings and walls mythological scenes in which ichthyocentaurs appear (mythological creatures, half human, half horse, with fish tail) holding a clypeus (a large round shield used by Greeks and Romans) while being watched by two small cupids.
The walls surrounding the room are also decorated with garlands and garlands figurative representations, including the fearsome three-headed dog, Guardian of the underworld, who was the protagonist of the last of the twelve deeds of the Greek hero Heracles and gave the mausoleum its name: Tomb of Cerberus.
Inside the tomb, as in a snapshot taken two thousand years ago, were archaeologists They found three Klinai (a type of divan used by Gyregos, Etruscans and Romans to lie down at banquets) painted grave goods, an altar where libation vessels were deposited and the bodies of the deceased still lie in their beds and accompanied by her trousseau. All of this completes a discovery that experts consider to be one of the most important archaeological discoveries in the region.