Paestum Museum - Tomb of the Diver

The museum houses the famous "Tomb of the Diver" (470 BC) - the only complete Greek painted tomb from the Classical period. The symposium scenes on the walls show reclining drinkers, musicians, and the famous diver himself. Essential for understanding Greek afterlife beliefs and wine culture.

What to do there

3 things to do

1. 1 Stand Inside the Only Greek Symposium Fresco on Earth History · Price: moderate

   Every other image of an ancient Greek symposium is on a vase. This one is on the walls of a tomb.

   On June 3, 1968, archaeologist Mario Napoli was excavating 1.5 km south of Paestum when he found a tomb built of five large stone slabs, dated 500-475 BCE. Inside: true fresco paintings - pigment applied to wet lime plaster, a technique requiring enormous skill. Four walls depicting a Greek symposium: bare-chested young men with laurel garlands, reclining on sofas, playing lyres, dancing, drinking wine, playing games, being in love with each other. The ceiling: a young man diving into water. This is THE ONLY complete Greek fresco with figurative scenes from any ancient period found anywhere. The only one. At Paestum Museum (Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Paestum), directly adjacent to the temple site (included in the €15 combined ticket, 3-day validity, same hours as the temples), enter the Tomb of the Diver display - the five original stone slabs are presented so you can see all four walls and the ceiling. Stand in the center. You are looking at a party that happened 2,500 years ago, painted by two artists (the Maestro del Tuffatore and an assistant), preserved accidentally because no one knew the tomb was there until 1968. Find the lyre player on the east wall. Find the wine cup (kylix) in the drinker's hand. Find the diver on the ceiling - still unresolved in scholarship as to whether he represents the journey of the soul at death.

   Backup: If the display is temporarily closed for conservation (it occasionally is), the museum has high-resolution reproductions and extensive scholarly context panels. The significance doesn't diminish from the copies - it actually helps you see the details more clearly.

   Log Memory
2. 2 Decode What the Drinkers Are Pouring Wine · Free

   The wine ritual depicted in this fresco is 2,500 years old and immediately recognizable.

   The figures hold kylixes - shallow, two-handled drinking cups used specifically for wine at symposia. The Symposiarch (host) would have selected the wine and decided how much water to mix in - drinking undiluted wine was considered barbaric in classical Greek culture. These men are drinking diluted wine, reclining on couches in the andron (men's room) of a private house, following a highly ritualized social code that governed every aspect of the evening. At the Tomb of the Diver display, focusing on the wall showing the symposium participants with cups, find the kylix being held in any figure's hand. The shallow, flat profile of the cup is unmistakable. Then look at the mixing vessel (krater) if depicted - symposium wine was always mixed with water in a central vessel, then ladled into individual cups. You are looking at the first documented wine ritual in Italian history.

   Backup: The museum's context panels explain symposium culture in detail. Look for any reference to the ratio of wine to water - typical was 3 parts water to 2 parts wine, or 2:1 for a 'strong' symposium.

   Log Memory
3. 3 Find the Diver - and Ask What He Means History · Free · Optional

   Scholars have been arguing about this ceiling painting for 57 years. Nobody has won yet.

   The young man on the ceiling dives from a platform into stylized water below. This is the image that named the entire tomb. But into what? Some scholars say the water represents the underworld - death as a dive into the unknown. Others say it represents the symposium itself - the diver plunging into pleasure. Others say it's a real athletic event. The fresco was painted by two different artists - the Maestro del Tuffatore handled the ceiling, an assistant handled the walls. They painted together on wet plaster, which meant they had hours, not days, to finish before the plaster set. Study the ceiling panel of the Tomb of the Diver display closely. Look for the platform the diver launches from (it's a stylized architectural element - a column or post). Then look at the water below - it's rendered as wavy blue lines, not realistic waves. Ask a museum staff member: 'What's the current scholarly consensus on what the diver represents?' The answer will be a qualified 'we don't know,' which makes it the most fascinating open question in Italian classical archaeology.

   Backup: The museum sells a scholarly catalog of the Tomb of the Diver. Even a brief read at the museum cafe provides the debate's main positions.

   Log Memory

Insider tips

• The symposium scenes are extraordinary

• Photography allowed

• Air-conditioned respite

• The diver fresco is world-famous