A 2,000-year-old mural depicting pizza has been discovered in Italy.
In the ancient city of Pompeii, a wall painting representing a cup of wine and very similar to a pizza was discovered, according to what was announced on Tuesday by the management of the site near the city of Naples in southern Italy.
This mural, with a black background and "amazing quality of execution", was discovered during excavations on the walls of an old house in the famous Roman city, which was destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 and was covered with lava and became buried under the ashes.
The management of the site, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List, explained that "what appears in the Pompeii painting, which dates back about two thousand years, looks like pizza, but it is clear that it is not, because it lacks some of its basic ingredients, such as tomatoes and mozzarella."
The circular “pizza” shown in the mural contains fruits (pomegranate and what appears to be dates) and spices represented by dots of yellow and red.
"It is impossible not to think of pizza, which was initially a 'poor' dish in southern Italy before it conquered the world and was served in luxury restaurants," said Gabriel Zucktrigl, general manager of the German archaeological site of Pompeii.
The "pizza" was placed on an elegant silver tray and surrounded by a glass of red wine and a wreath of yellow arbutus, in addition to pomegranates and dates.
Archaeologists explained that this type of painting, which was known in ancient times as the Greek "Xenia", was inspired by the "gifts of hospitality" that were given to guests according to a Greek tradition dating back to the third to first centuries BC.
The mural was discovered in the hallway of a house adjacent to a bakery, in an area that had previously witnessed excavations between 1888 and 1891, before returning in January.
Italian Minister of Culture Gennaro Sanguliano commented on the discovery, saying, "Pompeii never ceases to amaze us. It is a place that always reveals new treasures."
The Pompeii site occupies the second place among the Italian tourist attractions in terms of attracting visitors after the Colosseum in Rome, and its total area is about 22 hectares, a third of which is still buried under the ashes.
Source: websites