In the fresco from the House of the Baker, small, circular flatbreads sit atop the kiosk shelf, and a ring is impressed into the surface of the bread, creating a trough and a slightly raised rim. The fresco also helps to identify a flatbread depicted in a previously known Pompeii fresco, the "bread distribution" fresco from the tablinum of the Casa del Panettiere (House of the Baker), and the two bread images in tandem provide critical information regarding how this type of bread was shaped by hand, and why it took the form it did. For one thing, it's the first pictorial representation of food placed atop a circular flatbread in a Roman setting, corroborating literary references, such as the Aeneid, to this practice in ancient Roman dining. Said no more than: 'Ha! Are we eating the tables too?'"Īs a classical archaeologist who researches and recreates the breads and pastries of ancient Rome, I immediately knew that the image depicted in the unearthed fresco was a very important discovery. Not sparing the quartered cakes, Iulus, jokingly, The fateful circles of bread boldly with hands and jaws, Into the thin discs, the rest being eaten, and to break
When the poor fare drove them to set their teeth Under the food (as Jupiter himself inspired them)Īnd added wild fruits to these tables of Ceres. Settled their limbs under the branches of a tall tree,Īnd spread a meal: they set wheat cakes for a base "Aeneas, handsome Iulus, and the foremost leaders, In the Italian version of the announcement, Zuchtriegel recalls a passage of Virgil's Aeneid, which details the placing of fruit and other foods on top of breads (sometimes referred to as "cakes" in Greek and Roman literature) that function as "tables" ( mensae, in Latin): But is there enough evidence to confirm that the flatbread pictured in the Pompeian fresco is an early form of the beloved Neapolitan food? The short answer is "no", although it's understandable why some may initially assume, after glancing at the fresco (see image below), that these flatbreads are akin to pizza. In the announcement, director Gabriel Zuchtriegel described a beautifully preserved still-life fresco depicting a cup of wine next to a focaccia on a silver tray holding various fruits and what looks like moretum, a Roman herb-and-cheese spread.Īs the media caught wind of the new find, one phrase quickly rose to the top of Google search rankings: "ancient Roman pizza". In recent years, the site has begun excavating previously unexplored areas of the once bustling town that was buried during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. On 27 June, the Archaeological Park of Pompeii announced that a new fresco depicting a focaccia (an Italian flatbread) had been discovered.
0 kommentar(er)
