Diver from Paestum. Youth, Eros, and the Sea in Ancient Greece

The famous German archaeologist Tonio Hölscher (born 1940) offers his interpretation of the frescoes of the so-called Tomb of the Diver in Paestum, discovered in 1968, — a unique monument of Greek painting from the classical period. Restoring the historical context of the work, Hölscher departs from its metaphysical interpretations and considers the scene of a young man's skillful dive into the water based on the importance of the physical, corporeal aspect for the way of life of the ancient Greeks. According to his conclusions, the culture of coming of age, the prestige of a trained body, and eroticism are key elements of social life both in the Greek polis and beyond, in the “antimere” of wild spaces.