Rare Frescos Were Found In Pompeii, Painted On The Walls Of An Ancient Banquet Hall
A series of frescoes spanning three walls of an ancient banquet hall was recently discovered in Pompeii. The enormous, extremely rare wall paintings depict female cult followers of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and ecstasy. The ancient cult dates back to at least the fifth century B.C.
The women, or maenads, are carrying swords and have slaughtered animals draped over their shoulders. They are dancing alongside satyrs playing flutes, while squid, shellfish, eels, and poultry are suspended above them. At the center, a woman is being initiated into the mysterious cult.
The discovery is one of particular rarity because there is only one other large wall painting of a Dionysus ceremony. It was unearthed in 1909 in Pompeii’s Villa of Mysteries.
The giant banquet hall painting, set against a bright red background, was found at the newly excavated House of Thiasus. It dates to the first century B.C.E., more than 100 years before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 C.E.
“In 100 years’ time, today will be remembered as historic,” said Alessandro Giuli, the Italian culture minister. “Alongside the Villa of the Mysteries, this fresco forms an unparalleled testament to the lesser-known aspects of ancient Mediterranean life.”
The festivities depicted in the frescoes were kept secret from outsiders, which is why the cult was considered to be so mysterious. But now, the paintings have offered some valuable insights into what the ritual practices entailed.
Of course, wine was essential for these festivities. But researchers think cult members may have also consumed substances like opium to enter trance-like states.
The women in the frescoes were both hunters and dancers, suggesting an ancient connection between Dionysus and the slaughter of wild animals. They also represented a form of female that was not the typical idea of how women should behave.
“For the ancients, the bacchante or maenad expressed the wild, untameable side of women; the woman who abandons her children, the house and the city, who breaks free from male order to dance freely, go hunting and eat raw meat in the mountains and the woods,” said Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of Pompeii Archaeological Park.
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The hunting scenes may stand for life and death. A woman who was initiated into the cult was born again. Additionally, the murals suggest a religious crisis.
By 186 B.C.E., the festivals celebrating Dionysus were at risk of dying out. They were banned as Roman authorities cracked down on the scandalous rituals in Italy.
The existence of the frescoes indicates that the ban was ignored in the region, and the secret ceremonies survived.
The House of Thiasus was named after a group of Dionysian revelers. It is now on display to the public amidst ongoing archaeological work.
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