The subsoil of Pompeii, the city buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius two millennia ago, returned a new treasure in 2021: a rare bridal chariot in bronze and silver that has been reconstructed and is now on display in Rome, in an exhibition that delves into the relationship between modern man and his ancestors. This extraordinary vestige can be seen from this Thursday until July 30 in the exhibition The Instant and Eternity: Between Us and the Ancients at the Baths of Diocletian in the capital.
The chariot has been identified as a pilentum, a vehicle that in the classical world was used by the elites, especially for the ritual of accompanying the wife to her new home after marriage. It is a unique case in Italy not only because of its surprising state of preservation, after two thousand years under ash, but also because it is the first time that a bridal chariot – only one other was found in Thrace, Greece – has been studied and, moreover, reconstructed.
The car was buried after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD and in its long burial, naturally, it lost its organic parts, such as wood or leather, but its metal structure, its axles and its decoration in silver and bronze with an erotic theme were preserved. All these parts have been placed in a new wooden cart with the same shape, thanks to the making of a tracing of the hole it left underground, and in this way the visitor will be able to appreciate for the first time what a pilentum looked like.
The exceptional chariot found in Pompeii. Pompeii Archaeological Park
Imagen del carro tras su restauración. Parque Arqueológico de Pompeya
El resultado ha sido apreciado por autoridades como el ministro de Cultura, Gennaro Sangiuliano, sobre todo porque su descubrimiento fue posible gracias a un programa de la Fiscalía de Torre Annunziata (sur) que persigue el saqueo de los yacimientos “vesubianos”.
La exposición en las Termas de Diocleciano cuenta con unos 300 restos arqueológicos, entre estos el carro y otras obras griegas, etruscas, itálicas, medievales y contemporáneas, con el objetivo de analizar la relación del mundo moderno con la Antigüedad.
Una de las esculturas que forman parte de la exposición. Efe
El recorrido se abre con los calcos de dos víctimas anónimas del fuego del Vesubio sobre cenizas, cuya silueta retorcida aún permite sentir el horror del desastre pompeyano. Es el ejemplo perfecto de la eternidad contenida en un instante. Los organizadores quieren demostrar que es posible sentir empatía con esos pobres pompeyanos aunque vivieron hace mucho tiempo.
The relationship between modern and ancient man, they explain in one of the panels, is “substantially twofold”: on the one hand, it was created after a long process of artistic and intellectual transmission that forged the so-called Classical Culture; but on the other hand, “a phenomenon of ᴀssimilation” was generated with beings who lived dramas and joys similar to those of today (such as a wedding, in the case of the car). To expose this relationship with Antiquity, the exhibition discovers for the first time to the public archaeological remains discovered or restored in recent months.
Detail of the erotic scenes of the car. Pompeii Archaeological Park
Among the myths that have made up the world today is Zeus’ abduction of Princess Europa turned into a bull and which appears personified for the first time in the so-called Tabula Chigi, an important Roman bas-relief bought by the State last year.
The closeness of Antiquity is also evident in religious rites, in buildings – pieces of ceilings or frescoes from Pompeii have been brought to Rome – in the routine of houses or in traditions. The last display case in the exhibition includes numerous representations of the body in terracotta, such as hands, feet, eyes, tongues, teeth, penises, vaginas or breasts, offerings that men and women of ancient times dedicated to the gods when something hurt.
