Tomb depicting famous gladiator brawl discovered in Pompeii

A brawl between gladiators that ended in tragedy, narrated by Tacitus, and a mysterious character that probably died in it is a 2,000-year-old mystery of Pompeii brought to light by a marble monumental tomb with the longest funerary epigraph ever found. The excavation was connected with the rehabilitation of state-owned property as part of the Great Pompeii Project in the San Paolino area near Porta Stabia, one of the accesses to the ancient city.

The tombstone was made shortly before the eruption that destroyed Pompeii in 69 AD and was presented on Thursday in the archaeological area. The inscription is over 4 meters long, in seven narrative registers, and though it does not include the deceased's name, it describes in detail the major events in the life of the man buried within it: from the acquisition of the 'toga virilis' to his wedding, and describes the munificent activities that accompanied such events such as public banquets, largess, the holding of gladiatorial games and battling large beasts.

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