The vivid scene in gold, blue and red was uncovered on a wall beneath the stairwell in what experts think was a tavern frequented by gladiators, who fought each other, prisoners, and wild animals for the public’s entertainment.
“It’s very probable that this place was frequented by gladiators,” said Massimo Osanna, the director of Pompeii’s archaeological park.
“We are in Regio V, not far from where there was a barracks for gladiators, where among other things, there was graffiti referring to this world.
“Of particular interest in this fresco is the very realistic representation of wounds on the wrist and chest of the unsuccessful gladiator … We don’t know the outcome of the fight, he could have died or was given grace.”
The discovery was made during works to secure an area of the north of the archaeological park under the Great Pompeii Project, launched after years of poor maintenance and bad weather caused a series of wall collapses.
Regio V has recently offered up several impressive archaeological finds but is yet to open to the public.
A frescoed “fast food” counter, or thermopolium, was found in March and another depicting the mythological hunter Narcissus enraptured by his own reflection in a pool of water was discovered in February.
Human remains have also been found, including the skeletons of two women and three children huddled together in a villa, as well as the remains of a harnessed horse and saddle.
Perhaps the most significant find at the Regio V so far has been an inscription uncovered last year that proves the city was destroyed by Mount Vesuvius after October 17, 79 AD and not on August 24 as previously thought.
