Pompei scopre raro ciclo pittorico sui riti dionisiaci nella Casa del Tiaso

A rare series of wall paintings depicting a Dionysian procession has been uncovered in a large banquet hall at Pompei, specifically in insula 10 of Regio IX. This megalography, dating back to the 1st century B.C. (40-30 B.C.), is part of the Pompeian Second Style and features dancing Bacchae, hunters, a satyr pouring wine, and an initiate with an elderly silenus. The only other known example is the frieze from the Villa of Mysteries, discovered over a century ago. Named Casa del Tiaso, this new find introduces a novel iconographic element: hunting, showcased in a second frieze with live and dead animals (deer, boars, birds, fish, mollusks). Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park and co-author of a study published in the E-Journal of Pompeii Excavations, links these images to Euripides' "Bacchae" (405 B.C.) and an ancient religious crisis. Casa del Tiaso is open for visits from Monday to Friday at 11 a.m., by reservation, with groups limited to 15. Excavations in Regio IX, which began in February 2023 over an area of 3,200 square meters, are nearing completion.