With the discovery of fresco by Dionysus, Pompeii unveils “the greatness of a very ancient ritual”

More than 100 years after the discovery of the Villa of the Mysteries (known by the world of wine because “cradle” of one of the most important vineyards in which wine of ancient Romans arose again, ed), a new great fresco of the first century Bc sheds light on the mysteries of Dionysus in classic world. In a great room dedicated to banquets, excavated in the central area of Pompeii, in insula 10 of Regio IX, a frieze at almost real dimension, i.e. a “megalography” turning around the three sides of the environment with the fourth one opened on the garden, and showing the parade of Dionysus, god of wine, came to light: followers of Bacchus represented as dancers, but also as barbaric hunters with a kid cut off on the shoulders, or with a sword, and offal of an animal in the hands, young satyrs with pointed ears playing double flute, while an other one makes a sacrifice of wine (libation) in an acrobatic style, pouring out behind the back a stream of wine by a drinking horn (used to drink) into a patera (low cup); and, at the center of the composition, a woman with an old silenus holding a torch, a starting, a mortal woman which, with a night ritual, is beginning to be initiated to the mysteries of Dionysus, the god who dies and reborns promising the same to his followers. This is how the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, today, communicated to the world, the new sensational discovery which emerged by the most famous worldwide archaeological excavations, renamed by archaeologists as “Casa del Tiaso”, exactly a reference to the parade of Dionysus. “Wonderful” paintings, as the director of Pompeii Park Gabriel Zuchtriegel defined – who, tonight, on Rai 1, Alberto Angela will explain in a special episode of “Ulisse, il piacere della scoperta” - “Ulisse, the pleasure of discovery”(9.30 p.m) – in which one “can understand the greatness of a ritual dating back to an archaic world”, and which the ancient interred city by the eruption of Vesuvius of 79 Ac, Unesco World Heritage Site, continues to unveil the world with its excavations, according to which, said the Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli, “the Government allocated 33 million of euros”. An incredible finding, which, remaining in the food and wine theme, and in the beauty of conviviality of table, and wine, which Pompeii has always narrated to the world, going backwards, only in the last years, arrives after the reopening to the audience, following 20 years of restoration of Casa dei Vettii, two freed people who became rich with wine trade, but which practiced also prostitution with the extraordinary frescos of the hall of harvesting Amorini, and of the triumph of Dionysus, a masterpiece reflecting also the richness of the territory, where wine was produced to export it all over the Mediterranean; and, after the discoveries of the fresco which should represent a pizza, or at least a far “ancestor” of one of the dishes-symbol of Italy in the world, rediscovered in the new excavations of insula 10 of Regio IX, and of an “ante litteram” small shop of street food in the small square of the quarter of thermopolium of Regio V, capable of narrating the tastes and habits of our ancestors. And, all this, while, in Pompeii, vine will be still cultivated with Feudi di San Gregorio, the brand “custodian” of “vine patriarchies” in Campania which will take care of vineyards of agricultural company of the Archaeological Park most visited in the world, confirming how the Roman city is a real site of “agri-food” archaeology. As also research papers about Pompeii cuisine by chef Paolo Gramaglia demonstrate, a Michelin star at restaurant President with a view over Pompeii excavations, starting from ancient “panis”. In ancient times, explains the Archaeological Park of Pompeii about the new discovery, there were a series of rituals, including that of Dionysus, which were accessible only to who carried out a ritual of initiation, as suggested by the frieze. Those rituals were called “mysteric” because only initiated could know the secrets of them. They were often linked to the promise of a new blessed life both in this world and in that of afterlife. The frieze discovered in Pompeii is attributable to II style of Pompeian painting dating back to I century Bc. More precisely, the frieze can be dated back to years 40-30 Bc: this means that when Vesuvius erupted, which interred Pompeii in 79 Ac under lapilli and ashes, the Dionysian frieze was already one century old. The only other example of a megalography with representations of similar rituals is the frieze called “of Mysteries” in the famous Villa out of Pompeii, also it in Pompeian II Style. But, the new frieze found in Pompeii, compared to Villa of Mysteries, adds an other time to the imaginary of initiating rituals of Dionysus: hunt, which is evoked not only by hunting followers of Bacchus, but also by a second, smaller frieze running above that of followers of Bacchus, and satyrs which living and died animals are depicted, including a doe and a freshly gutted boar, birds, but also fish and molluscs. “In 100 years’time, the day of today will be lived as historical, because the discovery we show is historical - said Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli - the megalography rediscovered in insula 10 of Regio IX opens a new gash about the rituals of the mysteries of Dionysus. It is an exceptional historical document, and, together with that of the Villa of Mysteries, constitutes a one of a kind, making Pompeii an extraordinary testimony of an aspect of life of Mediterranean classic which is partly unknown. All this makes the recovery of activities of excavations in Pompeii important and precious, which the Government supports with conviction, and according to which, recently, allocated 33 million euros for excavation interventions, scheduled maintenance, restoration, and valorization in this site, and in the surrounding territory. We are going through an important moment for Italian and world archaeology which registered also a strong increase in visitors, starting from this Archaeological Park: over 4 million, and 87,000 presences in 2023, and 4 million, and 177,000 units in 2024”. “The hunt of Dionysus followers of Bacchus – explains the director of the Park of Pompeii Gabriel Zuchtriegel – starting from “The Bacchae” by Euripides of 405 Bc, one of the most beloved tragedies of ancient times, becomes a metaphor for a wild an ecstatic life aiming to “something different, of great and of visible”, as the chorus in the text by Euripides states. The Bacchae expressed for ancient people the wild and untameable side of woman; the woman abandoning sons, home, and city, escaping by male order to dance freely, go hunting, and eat raw meat in the mountains and woods; so, the opposite of the “nice” woman emulating Venus, goddess of love, and of nuptials, the woman looking herself at the mirror making herself beautiful. Both the frieze of casa del Tiaso, and that of Mysteries show the woman as suspended, as oscillating between these two extremes, two modalities of being feminine at that time. They are frescos with a deeply religious meaning, but, which, here, had the function to adorn spaces for banquets and parties. A little bit as when one finds a copy of the Creation of Adam by Michelangelo on a wall of an Italian restaurant in New York to create a little bit of atmosphere. Behind these amazing paintings, with their play with illusion and reality, one can see the marks of a religious crisis which was investing the ancient world, but one can also seize the greatness of a ritual dating back to an archaic world, at least until II millennial Bc, to the Dionysus of Mycenaean and Cretan civilizations, who was called also Zagreus, master of wild animals”. The excavations of Regio IX of Pompeii returned two atrium houses, already partially inspected in XIX century, built in Samnite time, and transformed in I century Ac into productive shops, a fullonica (laundry), and a bakery with the oven with spaces for millstones, and spaces for the production of food products to supply in the city, as well as living rooms, pertaining to a large domus. Among these, in addition to the great space with Dionysian scenes, a black saloon with scenes deriving by Trojan Saga, a shrine with a blue background with the four seasons, and allegories of agriculture and pastoralism, and a great thermal quarter. The entrance, the quarter of the atrium, and great part of peristyle (colonnade garden) still remain unexplored. That means that we will still see wonderful things thanks to Pompeii, and to “Campania felix” (Ancient Campania).