The "Dinner With A Side Of Mythology" Story

I recently read a story in the "World" section of my local newspaper titled "Dinner with a side of mythology."  Very unusual, but extremely interesting story that dealt with the excavations in ancient Pompeii that revealed formal lives of Rome's wealthy.  The two photographs that accompanied the story were very hard to view since they had been copied so many times and were never in perfect shape when they were discovered.  The story originated in Rome, Italy and told of archaeologists working at the ancient site of Pompeii when they recently unveiled their latest find: a formal dining room that offered a glimpse of how some of the wealthier denizens lived, or at least the art they could meditate on as they munched.  Painted dark black so soot from candle smoke wouldn't stain them, experts said, the walls are divided into panels.  Several of them are decorated with couples who are associated with the Trojan War.  The dining room is part of an insula, the equivalent of a city block, that has been excavated in connection with a project to shore up the perimeter between the excavated and unexcavated areas of the city, part of which remains underground.  The project will help better preserve the site.

Three interior painted walls that are extremely hard to tell what is on them.

People would meet to dine after sunset; the flickering light of the lamps had the effect of making the images appear to move, especially after a few glasses of good wine.  "The mythological couples provided ideas for conversations about the past and life, only seemingly of a merely romantic nature.  In reality, they refer to the relationship between the individual and fate." The couples include Helen of Troy and Paris, who is identified in the scene with a Greek inscription by his other name, Alexandros; while a panel on the same wall shows Helen's parents: Leda, queen of Sparta, and Zeus, depicted as the swan who seduced her.  Across the room, facing Helen, her handmaiden and Paris - and a despondent-looking dog - is Cassandra, who could see the future, along with Apollo, who had cursed her so her prophecies would not be believed.  

This shows details of one of the paintings

There is evidence that the room was part of a building that was being restored when Mount Vesuvius abruptly erupted, burying the city in pumice stones and ash in the year 79, Zuchtriegel said in a telephone interview.  "It seems like the entire insula was being reconstructed at the moment of the eruption," he said.  Zuchtriegel said the reconstruction might have been the result of an earthquake that had shaken the city "a few months" before Vesuvius blew.  In another recently excavated chamber adjacent to the dining room, archaeologists found stacked roof tiles, work tools, bricks and lime; discoveries that offered insight into ancient building techniques and the use of concrete.  Stories from the past always amaze me, but I love to hear and read of them.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.