| Paintings and mosaics in Pompeii and Ercolano: |
Campanian Hoplite
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-
 The
warrior is standing, facing to the left and wearing typical
Greek heavy armour over a short tunic, with gilded helmet and
jaw guards, cristae, two vertical plumes and crest; his legs are
protected by shin-guards and while his right arm is leaning on
his lance, his left arm is bearing the large oval Macedonian
shield with the bloody tunic and belt captured from his enemy
hanging from a spike. On other stones, the deceased enters the
next world with the same slow steps, in the company of his
companions and servants and welcomed by young maidens bearing
liquid refreshment; here, on the other hand, he is cut off by
the physical confines of the wall itself, emphasised by two
framing lines which give the impression of a sort of shrine,
reminiscent of the small funerary temples inside which, on
painted ceramics of the period, the deceased lay. The painting
has been carried out on two superimposed blocks which thereby
make up the headstone of a cavity-type tomb whose longitudinal
walls were decorated with a simple spiralled pattern between
horizontal red-painted lines; the lid was convex, and for this
reason the upper slab (cracked) is trapezoidal.
Bibliography: Johannowsky, Atti Taranto 1971, pp. 375-382; S. De
Caro, Arte e artiginato artistico nella Campania antica, in
Storia e Civiltą della campania. L'Evo antico, Napoli 1991, fig.
a p. 295; V. Sampaolo, Le tombe dipinte, in "Il Museo
Archeologico dell'Antica Capua, Napoli 1995, p. 49 e s.
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Fonte: MANN
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