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Frescoes of the Villa of the Mysteries

Painting

Frescoes of the Villa of the Mysteries

Anonymous (Roman), c. 60 BC

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Classical · chronological order 2

A cycle of fresco wall paintings from around 60 BC, almost intact in a side room of a suburban villa at Pompeii. The 29 life-size figures, set against an intense “Pompeian red”, probably show an initiation into the mysteries of Dionysus: a bride, satyrs, maenads and the god himself. What exactly it means is still argued over.

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