The images of boxing, chariot racing, duelling with weapons are interpreted as images of funeral games that were held in honour of the deceased. The images of the funeral games were painted on the two long sides of the tomb, occurred in tombs of both male and female deceased. They are comparable to the tomb paintings of Etruria in subject matter but the Etrurian examples cease at the end of the 5th century BCE. The tombs are of interest because some scholars have seen in the ones that depict men fighting with sharp weapons the origins of Roman gladiatorial combat, which originally took place in a funerary context. Potrandolfo, A., A Rouveret, M. Cipriani. The Painted Tombs of Paestum. 2nd ed. Paestum: Pandemos, 2004. Ville, G. La Gladiature en Occident des origines à la mort de Domitien. Rome: École française de Rome, 1981.
