A massive bacchanalian frieze spanning three walls has been discovered in a banquet hall in the ancient Roman city Pompeii, the archaeological park announced in a press release.
The frescoes depict a procession of bacchantes, female followers of the wine god, as hunters and dancers; satyrs playing flutes and drinking wine; and a woman with a torch flanked by Dionysus’s mentor Silenus. Snakes and other sea creatures appear among the figures. It dates back some time between the 40–30 BCE.
The narrative draws from the ancient Greek play The Bacchae, written by Euripides in 405 BCE, wherein Dionysus descends on Thebes seeking retribution for slander against him. The play ends with the women of Thebes driven into complete madness.
The frescoes, as Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, explained, “show a woman as suspended, as oscillating between these two extremes, two forms of the female being at the time.” Adding, that they hold “a profoundly religious meaning,” and were “also designed to decorate areas for holding banquets and feasts.”
The frieze is located within the Casa del Tiaso or House of Thiasus in Regio IX in Pompeii. Thiasus is associated with the presence of Dionysus and followers. To become part of the ancient cult of Dionysus, initiates were required to participate in secret rituals.
This is not the first massive frieze in the archaeological park to feature a Dionysian ritual. Those in the Villa of the Mysteries, which was unearthed in 1909, show Dionysus and his bride Ariadne surrounded by bacchantes, fauns, and winged figures. It was made in the same style and offers a further glimpse into the cult.
Since February 2023, there have been ongoing excavations at Regio IX that have led to such discoveries as a blue shrine room, a black room banquet hall, and a dry cleaner.
For more on why Pompeii still fascinates, check out our guide to the ancient city.
