It’s been left unseen for more than 2,000 years, buried under volcanic ash from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
Now, archeologists have uncovered a sensational fresco in Pompeii depicting a mysterious cult of raving, intoxicated women.
Found at the newly-excavated House of Thiasus, the wall art depicts female followers of Dionysus, the ancient Greek god of wine-making, insanity and ritual madness.
Wearing long, flowing animal skins, these intoxicated women are eating meat, carrying swords and animal innards and wearing slaughtered goats on their shoulders.
The vast scene, spanning three sides of a room at Pompeii’s House of Thiasus, has been dated to the 40s-30s BC.
So at the time of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 which buried Pompeii beneath a thick layer of pumice and ash, the scene was already about 120 years old.
Italy’s Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli called the Dionysiac wall painting ‘one-of-a-kind’ and ‘an exceptional historical document’.
‘In 100 years, today will be seen as historic because the discovery we are showing is historic,’ said Giuli.
Archeologists discovered a huge fresco of a cult for the ‘wild, untameable side’ of womanhood, including figures who break free from male order to dance freely, go hunting and ‘eat raw meat in the mountains and the woods’
Officially, the room features a ‘megalography’, from the Greek term for ‘large painting’ – depicting figures who are almost life-sized
‘Pompeii [is] an extraordinary testimony to an aspect of life in classical Mediterranean life that is largely unknown.’
Officially, the room features a ‘megalography’, from the Greek term for ‘large painting’, depicting figures who are almost life-sized.
The exceptionally detailed megalography runs round three sides of the room while the fourth side would have opened onto a garden.
Around the walls are female members of the cult devoted to Dionysus, known as Maenads, which means ‘to rave, to be mad; to rage, to be angry’.
Maenads are portrayed as dancers, but also as ferocious hunters with slaughtered goats on their shoulders, holding swords or the innards of an animal.
‘Maenad expressed the wild, untameable side of women,’ said Dr Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii.
‘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.’
They were ‘the direct opposite’ of the ‘nice’ woman who emulates Venus, the goddess of love and marriage, or the woman who looks at herself in the mirror and ‘dolls herself up’, said Zuchtriegel.
Found at the newly-excavated House of Thiasus, the wall art depicts female followers of Dionysus, the ancient Greek god of wine-making, insanity and ritual madness
Interestingly, all the figures in the frieze are depicted on pedestals, as if they were statues but their movements, complexions and clothing make them appear full of life
This frieze depicts living and dead animals, including a fawn and a wild boar that has just been gutted, cockerels, various types of birds but also fish and seafood.
The art has been dated to the 40s-30s BC. So at the time of the eruption of Vesuvius, which buried Pompei beneath a thick layer of pumice and ash in AD 79, the Dionysiac frieze was already about 130 years old
Painted in the 40s or 30s BC – over 100 years before the Italian city was buried with volcanic ash – it adorns the walls at the newly-excavated House of Thiasus
There’s also living and dead animals, including a fawn and a wild boar that has just been gutted, cockerels, various types of birds, plus fish and seafood.
Meanwhile, young satyrs – part goat, part human figures with pointed ears wearing wreaths of vine or ivy – play the double flute.
At the centre of the piece is a mortal woman with an old Silenus (a tutor) who holds a torch, indicating that she is being initiated into the cult through a nocturnal ritual.
Interestingly, all the figures in the frieze are depicted on pedestals, as if they were statues but their movements, complexions and clothing make them appear full of life.
In antiquity, there were a series of cults, including the cult of Dionysus, that were only accessible to those who performed an initiation ritual, as illustrated in the Pompeian frieze.
They were known as ‘mystery cults’ because their secrets could only be known by people who had been initiated, by way of drug use and communal dancing to pipe music.
The cults were often linked to the promise of a new blissful life, both in this world and in the afterlife.
Dr Zuchtriegel points to another frieze similarly featuring figures against a red background in Pompeii’s Villa of Mysteries.
Young satyrs – part goat, part human figures with pointed ears wearing wreaths of vine or ivy – play the double flute
At the centre there is a mortal woman with an old Silenus (tutor) who holds a torch, indicating that she is being initiated into the cult through a nocturnal ritual
Alessandro Giuli made a visit to the archaeological park of Pompeii, following the discovery of a large fresco with a Dionysian theme
A general view of the House of Thiasios where a megalographic fresco cycle dedicated to Dionysian themes was discovered in a banquet hall on February 26, 2025 in Pompeii, Italy
After the eruption in AD 79, bodies of the victims at Pompeii were famously preserved in a protective shell of ash before they eventually decayed. Since the mid 1800s, the voids that these bodies left behind were eventually filled with plaster casts to recreate their final moments (pictured)
‘These frescoes have a profoundly religious meaning which, however, was also designed to decorate areas for holding banquets and feasts,’ he said.
‘[It’s] rather like when we find a copy of Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam on the wall of an Italian restaurant in New York to create a little bit of atmosphere.’
The Dionysiac scene will be on display to the public immediately as part of the tours of the excavations, which are still ongoing in Pompeii.
Excavations of the so-called Region IX of Pompeii – one of nine districts into which the site is sub-divided – began in February 2023.
According to reports, as much as third of the lost city, equating to 22 hectares, has still to be cleared of volcanic debris.
An initial study of the new discovery has been published in the E-Journal of the Pompeii excavations.
How Pompeii and Herculaneum were wiped off the map by devastating eruption of Mount Vesuvius 2,000 years ago
What happened?
Mount Vesuvius erupted in the year AD 79, burying the cities of Pompeii, Oplontis, and Stabiae under ashes and rock fragments, and the city of Herculaneum under a mudflow.
Mount Vesuvius, on the west coast of Italy, is the only active volcano in continental Europe and is thought to be one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world.
Every single resident died instantly when the southern Italian town was hit by a 500°C pyroclastic hot surge.
Pyroclastic flows are a dense collection of hot gas and volcanic materials that flow down the side of an erupting volcano at high speed.
They are more dangerous than lava because they travel faster, at speeds of around 450mph (700 km/h), and at temperatures of 1,000°C.
An administrator and poet called Pliny the younger watched the disaster unfold from a distance.
Letters describing what he saw were found in the 16th century.
His writing suggests that the eruption caught the residents of Pompeii unaware.
Mount Vesuvius erupted in the year AD 79, burying the cities of Pompeii, Oplontis, and Stabiae under ashes and rock fragments, and the city of Herculaneum under a mudflow
He said that a column of smoke ‘like an umbrella pine’ rose from the volcano and made the towns around it as black as night.
People ran for their lives with torches, screaming and some wept as rain of ash and pumice fell for several hours.
While the eruption lasted for around 24 hours, the first pyroclastic surges began at midnight, causing the volcano’s column to collapse.
An avalanche of hot ash, rock and poisonous gas rushed down the side of the volcano at 124mph (199kph), burying victims and remnants of everyday life.
Hundreds of refugees sheltering in the vaulted arcades at the seaside in Herculaneum, clutching their jewelry and money, were killed instantly.
The Orto dei fuggiaschi (The garden of the Fugitives) shows the 13 bodies of victims who were buried by the ashes as they attempted to flee Pompeii during the 79 AD eruption of the Vesuvius volcano
As people fled Pompeii or hid in their homes, their bodies were covered by blankets of the surge.
While Pliny did not estimate how many people died, the event was said to be ‘exceptional’ and the number of deaths is thought to exceed 10,000.
What have they found?
This event ended the life of the cities but at the same time preserved them until rediscovery by archaeologists nearly 1700 years later.
The excavation of Pompeii, the industrial hub of the region and Herculaneum, a small beach resort, has given unparalleled insight into Roman life.
Archaeologists are continually uncovering more from the ash-covered city.
In May archaeologists uncovered an alleyway of grand houses, with balconies left mostly intact and still in their original hues.
A plaster cast of a dog, from the House of Orpheus, Pompeii, AD 79. Around 30,000 people are believed to have died in the chaos, with bodies still being discovered to this day
Some of the balconies even had amphorae – the conical-shaped terra cotta vases that were used to hold wine and oil in ancient Roman times.
The discovery has been hailed as a ‘complete novelty’ – and the Italian Culture Ministry hopes they can be restored and opened to the public.
Upper stores have seldom been found among the ruins of the ancient town, which was destroyed by an eruption of Vesuvius volcano and buried under up to six meters of ash and volcanic rubble.
Around 30,000 people are believed to have died in the chaos, with bodies still being discovered to this day.
