A large fresco with scenes of the secret initiation rites of the cult of Dionysus has been discovered in a villa in the Regio IX neighborhood of Pompeii. The fresco is a megalography, a Greek term meaning “large painting” used to describe paintings with large figures that cover a large space. The figures are almost life-sized and cover three walls of a banquet room. The frescoes were painted in the Second Pompeian Style and date to between 40 and 30 B.C.
Painted against a vivid red background, the frescoes depicts the ritual procession of Dionysus, the god of wine and ecstasy. Bacchantes, the god’s young female devotees, are shown as dancers and as hunters, carrying a slaughtered goat on their shoulders and a sword and the entrails of a sacrificed animal in their hands. Also in the procession are satyrs playing the double flute and pouring a wine libation over his shoulders. In the center of the procession is an elegantly dressed woman with Silenus (the drunkest and oldest of Dionysus’ adherents) holding a torch. She is being initiated into the mysteries of the Dionysus cult. Unusually, all of the figures are shown on pedestals, even though they are captured in dynamic movement.
The only other megalography of this type, period and scale known is the one in House of the Mysteries, a villa just outside the gates of Pompeii. However, its depiction of the Dionysus mysteries does not contain any imagery of the hunt. The newly-discovered fresco not only features bacchante huntresses, but also a smaller border frieze above them that features all kinds of animals, alive and dead. The border fresco depicts a fawn, wild boar, birds, fish and shellfish.
The domus has been named the House of the Thiasos after Dionysus’ retinue of revelers in ecstasy. It will be open to the public in limited numbers as part of the visits allowed to the Regio IX excavation and stabilization program.
“In 100 years’ time, today will be remembered as historic because the discovery we are presenting is historic,” said Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli, who attended the unveiling of the frescoes.
“Alongside the Villa of the Mysteries, this fresco forms an unparalleled testament to the lesser-known aspects of ancient Mediterranean life.”
* This article was originally published here
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