They discover fresh pompeii representing the bacchus delegation

A series Very rare Of monumental frescoes that represent the entourage of Baco, god of wine, was discovered in a room for banquets in Pompeya, announced yesterday the nearby archaeological site of Naples.

It is an extraordinary historical documenthighlighted the Italian Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli, cited in the statement.

The almost natural frieze dated in the first century AC was unearthed in a spacious banquet room, excavated in recent weeks in the central part of the ruins of Pompeya. Megalography (from the Greek term that means Great paintinga cycle of paintings with large -scale figures) travels three sides of the room, while the fourth side opens to the garden.

Frescos symbolize the procession of Dionysus, the god of wine, and the bacantes are represented as dancers, but also as fierce jackets with sacrificed kids on their shoulders or holding a sword and the bowels of an animal; Young satyrs with pointed ears touch the double flute, while another makes a sacrifice of wine (libation) in an acrobatic style, pouring came behind him from a horn to drink a patera (shallow bowl).

In the center of the composition there is a woman with an old Sileno (preceptor and loyal companion of Dionysus), who holds a torch, which indicates that she is a mortal woman who, through a night ritual, is about to be initiated in the mysteries of Dionysus, the God who dies and is reborn, and who promises the same destiny to her followers.

An interesting detail is that all the figures are on pedestals, as if they were statues, and at the same time their movements, complexion and clothing make them seem full of life, according to the Pompeii Museum statement.

Archaeologists have baptized frieze residence as House of the Tiasoin reference to the Dionysian procession (thiaosos). In ancient times there were a series of cults, including that of Dionysus, who could only access those who performed an initiation ritual, as illustrated by the Pompeian frieze. They were known as mysterious cults because their secrets could only be known by the initiates. Cults were often linked to the promise of a new blissful life, both in this world and in the beyond.

This freshly discovered frieze can be attributed to the second style of Pompeyan painting, which dates back to the 1st century. Specifically, it can be dated between the 40s and 30 BC, which means that at the time of the eruption of Vesuvio, which buried the city under a thick layer of pumice and ash stone in 79 AD, the Dionysian frieze was already about a hundred years old.

The only other example of a megalography with similar rituals is the frieze of the village of the mysteries, outside the doors of Pompeya, also decorated in the second style.

Unlike the Villa of the Mysteries, it adds one more theme to the imaginary world of the rites of Dionysian initiation: hunting, which is not only evoked by bacchants as hunters, but also for a second smaller frie fish and seafood.

Pompeya, declared a World Heritage by UNESCO, is the second most visited tourist site in Italy after the Colosseum and covers an area of ​​about 22 hectares, of which one third is still buried under the ashes that fell during the eruption of Vesuvio, which helped preserve many of its buildings.

(With information from Europa Press and AFP)