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NAPLES, ITALY—According to a BBC News report, a wall painting uncovered in the hallway of a home in the Regio IX area of central Pompeii shows a silver tray holding a round, pizza-like flatbread, fresh and dried fruit, and a goblet of wine. The 2,000-year-old image is thought to depict an older Greek tradition of offering gifts to houseguests that was documented by the Roman-era writers Virgil and Philostratus. Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, said the simple meal on a silver platter thus refers to the bucolic and the sacred. The remains of three people were recently discovered in the same home, near an oven. For more on recent excavations at Pompeii, go to "Digging Deeper into Pompeii's Past."
