Pompeii has not finished revealing its secrets and amazed us.
A week after the appointment of its new director, the Archaeological Park of the most visited ancient city in the world has just announced in a press release that it has discovered the exceptional remains of an ancient ceremonial chariot from Roman times.
Exceptionally preserved by the properties of volcanic tuff, it was buried in the 1st century AD.
AD, during the eruption of Vesuvius.
Read also: Discovering the forgotten Roman villas on the slopes of Vesuvius
Unearthed with a thousand precautions since January, the vehicle was found at the site of the large villa of Civita Giuliana, about 700 meters north-west of the ancient city of Pompeii.
The chariot, a four-wheeler, has a rich bronze and pewter decoration consisting of a frieze and medallions.
Also wonderfully preserved, this ornamental register located at the rear of the vehicle is loaded with erotic scenes populated by nymphs and satyrs.
Less artistic but just as precious in the eyes of archaeologists, the iron strapping of the chariot's wheels, the remains of its wooden frame as well as various traces of decomposed organic matter - ropes, floral decorations - have also been identified.
Embellished with a small seat with armrests, the platform - quite light it seems - could accommodate one to two passengers.
The luxury of its ornamentation and the context of its discovery - in a villa in the center of the Roman Empire - leaves no doubt that it was a ceremonial chariot, the use of which was reserved for civic ceremonies.
1/7 - The Roman ceremonial chariot from the 1st century AD.
AD discovered in the villa of Civita Giuliana, on the outskirts of Pompeii.
Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali e per il Turismo / Parco Archeologico di Pompei / Luigi Spina
2/7 - The Roman ceremonial chariot from the 1st century AD.
AD discovered in the villa of Civita Giuliana, on the outskirts of Pompeii.
Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali e per il Turismo / Parco Archeologico di Pompei / Luigi Spina
3/7 - The Roman ceremonial chariot from the 1st century AD.
AD discovered in the villa of Civita Giuliana, on the outskirts of Pompeii.
Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali e per il Turismo / Parco Archeologico di Pompei / Luigi Spina
4/7 - The Roman ceremonial chariot from the 1st century AD.
AD discovered in the villa of Civita Giuliana, on the outskirts of Pompeii.
Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali e per il Turismo / Parco Archeologico di Pompei / Luigi Spina
5/7 - The Roman ceremonial chariot from the 1st century AD.
AD discovered in the villa of Civita Giuliana, on the outskirts of Pompeii.
Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali e per il Turismo / Parco Archeologico di Pompei / Luigi Spina
6/7 - The Roman ceremonial chariot from the 1st century AD.
AD discovered in the villa of Civita Giuliana, on the outskirts of Pompeii.
Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali e per il Turismo / Parco Archeologico di Pompei / Luigi Spina
7/7 - The Roman ceremonial chariot from the 1st century AD.
AD discovered in the villa of Civita Giuliana, on the outskirts of Pompeii.
Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali e per il Turismo / Parco Archeologico di Pompei / Luigi Spina
Massimo Osanna, the outgoing director of the Pompeii site, did not hide his enthusiasm in the face of this large-scale find.
“
It is an extraordinary discovery for the advancement of our knowledge of the ancient world.
If we have already found in Pompeii vehicles such as that of the house of Menander, or the two tanks discovered at the Villa of Ariadne, they are in no way comparable to the tank of the Civita Giuliana
”he declared in the press release Archaeological Park of Pompeii, specifying that only examples found in a Thracian tumulus can be compared to the model found in the city buried by the eruption of Vesuvius.
This float, undoubtedly a
pilentum
, was to be used by the Roman elite "
to accompany community festivities, parades and processions
" also specified Massimo Osanna, who does not rule out seeing a matrimonial float either, given its decor "
associated with Eros
".
Read also: In Pompeii, amazing discovery of two victims who were trying to flee the eruption of Vesuvius
Large-scale excavations
Excavated by a multidisciplinary archaeological team composed among others of archaeobotanists and anthropologists, the room of the villa in which the tank was discovered faces the stable spent in recent years by the Pompeian teams.
Three horses had been discovered there in 2018, including one still harnessed with a bronze coin.
The chariot room, on the other hand, is a two-level wooden portico that overlooks a courtyard of the villa.
Read also: A sumptuous banquet hall, aquatic triclinium, discovered in Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli
The discovery of a vehicle in such a state of preservation is extremely rare, if not unprecedented.
Extremely fragile, the tank was sent to the laboratory of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii where it should be the subject of a meticulous restoration campaign in the coming months.
This discovery comes at a time of intensification of the fight against looting and illegal excavation sites near historic Italian sites. “
The digging of a complex network of tunnels more than five meters deep, the looting and partial destruction of illegally explored areas required an investigative operation which could only be carried out through a planned archaeological excavation, which therefore was carried out next to the Archaeological Park of Pompeii
”declared the Attorney General of Torre Annunziata Nunzio Fragliasso. The rise in recent years in acts of looting can be explained by the recent increase in the illegal trafficking - and sale - of cultural property around the world.