The Tomb of the Diver was found by the Italian archaeologist Mario Napoli on 3 June 1968 during his excavation of a small necropolis south of the Greek city of Paestum in Magna Graecia, now southern Italy. The tomb slabs is now displayed in the, superbly renovated museum at Paestum.
It is a grave made of five local limestone slabs forming the four lateral walls and the roof, the floor being excavated in the natural rock ground. All five slabs, now sensitively displayed in natural light, forming the monument were painted on the interior sides using a true fresco technique. The paintings on the four walls depict a symposium scene, while the cover slab shows the famous scene that gives the tomb its name: a young man diving into a curling and waving stream of water.
I recommend the excellent, well illustrated catalogue The painted tombs of Paestum, by Angela Pontrandolfo, Agnès Rouveret, Marina Cipriani.. Pandemos Editions, Paestum, 2004 ISBN 88-87744-11-4; other versions:
French ISBN 88-87744-13-0;
German ISBN 88-87744-12-2;
Italian ISBN 88-87744-10-6
