Archaeologists have discovered a painting in the ancient city of Pompeii that seems to feature a pizza.
It certainly looks like a pizza, but there are a few good reasons why the artist probably intended it to look like something else.
For one, pizzas first hit the scene in Naples in the 1700s, so the artist was almost two thousand years early with the depiction. Talk about being ahead of your time!
Pompeii itself was famously destroyed by an eruption from nearby Mount Vesuvius in 79CE, and we’re still learning more about the ruined city as archaeologists peel back the volcanic ash and rock that’s long-buried the place.
The volcanic matter, destructive as it once was, has helped to preserve much of the buried city, giving us a rare opportunity to piece together what Roman life was like in the area.
Back to the early ‘pizza’. It was discovered in a house’s hallway, itself situated close to a bakery. Both buildings are within the Regio IX district of the ancient city, and were partially excavated in the 1800s.
More recent excavations unearthed the painting, depicting a flatbread covered in some kind of sauce – the ‘pizza’ in question – and a cup of wine.
Despite tomatoes being synonymous with Italian cuisine, toms didn’t hit its shores until 1521 when they brought across from Mesoamerica.
Mozzarella also wasn’t invented until much later than the fall of the Roman Empire, so you can guarantee the ‘pizza’ was lacking some essential modern ingredients.
Nevertheless, the proto-pizza points to the fact that ancient people weren’t so different to us. Gabriel Zuchtriegel, Pompeii’s archaeological director, said the ‘frugal and simple meal’ and ‘luxury of silver trays’ is reminiscent of the origins of modern pizza pies.
"How can we fail to think, in this regard, of pizza, also born as a 'poor' dish in southern Italy, which has now conquered the world and is also served in starred restaurants?” he said.
Another interesting recent find at Pompeii was what appeared to be a ‘fast food’ shop, complete with paintings of a chickens and hounds that have been remarkably well-preserved. If you want to feel a spiritual connection to the ancient world, cast your mind to this next time you stumble into a Morley’s at 2am.
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Rachael Davis