Simposio, poesia e immortalità. Per una nuova interpretazione della Tomba del Tuffatore

The pictorial programme of the Tomb of the Diver focuses totally on the representation of a symposium. Music and poetry play a crucial role in its decoration, and parts of a lyre were found in the tomb. Why are these elements so relevant? This paper argues that the idea of survival represented by the symposium on the tomb does not hint at the generic pleasures offered by feasting, nor does it rest on eschatological beliefs or conceptual allegories. The immortality awaiting the deceased, who dives beyond the boundaries of human life, is grounded in the typically Greek and aristocratic conception of kleos, i.e. on glory and renown through poetry, as testified by a number of textual evidence, such as Theogn. vv. 237-254. Much Greek poetry is composed, performed, and re-performed in symposia. Albeit in Hades, the young and fair deceased will continue to ‘exist’, while on earth he will be perpetually celebrated through singing in the cheerful atmosphere of symposia, as suggested by the symposium depicted in the tomb paintings that surround him.