![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/38befb_b7663ae383946b92a1798f9c835695ae.jpg/v1/fill/w_288,h_162,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/38befb_b7663ae383946b92a1798f9c835695ae.jpg)
David Wilson Researcher, Writer, TV Producer and Director
The Diver: a suggestion
![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/38befb_2e842c4286cf45718ef5714678c78af4.jpg/v1/fill/w_536,h_261,al_c,lg_1,q_80,enc_auto/38befb_2e842c4286cf45718ef5714678c78af4.jpg)
This is a painting which originally decorated the underside of the roof of a Greek sarcophagus. It was discovered at Paestum, in Campania, in Italy south of Naples. It dates from the fifth century BC [I think ].
Most classical scholars believe that the figure diving into the water is diving into the afterworld. I think that the water is a metaphor for the journey to the spirit world [as per David Lewis-Williams’s writings: see Rock Art Research Institute: Johannesburg] , or the Red Sea and the Jordan in Old Testament stories]. The trees and and the diving board may be a clue, as the form of the drawing emulates visual hallucinations often seen in trance, meditation or hypnosis.
Have a look at my CAJ article and then look at this. Don’t you think the diving board is a great case of tessellopsia? And the trees – which don’t resemble the kind of trees you find in that part of Italy – look like dendropsia…