September in Campania was far from what we had imagined. Together with a Polish couple, permanently living in the cool, rainy Scottish Highland, we naively expected room temperature, perfect for long hiking trips. Instead, the Campaign greeted us with over thirty degrees of heat and humidity of ninety per cent. In a word, horror.
Many hours of wandering the Pompeian streets scorched by the sun of Italy gave us a hard time, but we did not skip a visit to a place outside the walls of Pompeii, which is basically considered an example of a suburban villa, not an element of the city. Everyone who has been able to visit the Villa with Mysteries knows that it was worth it.
Among other things, to protect against this scorching sun, but also from rain, the enormity of Pompeian frescoes, mosaics and marble statues, a lover of ancient Rome will not see in the ruins themselves, but in the Archaeological Museum located in Naples. Pompeii itself offers tourists the most often copies. The Villa of the Mysteries, whose roofs have been restored, is an interesting exception. And it is good. The old artists did not create their works in isolation from the surroundings, frescoes, mosaics and accessories constituted a coherent composition of the room. Tearing out individual elements and placing them in museum display cases will guarantee us dry knowledge, but it will not provide a full picture of the era, and especially it deprives us of our emotions. For example, imagine white museum walls with a wooden secretary behind a glass case. Nearby, in separate display cases, there are stylus, wax tablets, papyri, parchments, powders for making ink. An excellent source of knowledge about early writing arts? Yes of course. But it is only when all these exhibits are combined into one composition, similar to an open-air museum, that gives us a true picture of the working conditions of the ancient scribe. Villa with Mysteries is such an open-air museum in miniature. Especially one of its rooms, on the walls of which there is probably the most interesting and mysterious fresco of antiquity.
On the day we visited Pompeii, this room could only be viewed through the threshold, unfortunately entering was forbidden. I do not know if this is the case now. It is significant for Pompeii that not all positions in this city are always available, some are subject to renovation works, and then they are excluded from tourist traffic, so when choosing a visit, you should take into account that not always everything can be seen or can be seen in all its glory, as in our case, wherefrom the front we were only able to look at the central part of the villa’s fresco. Hence, a certain problem, about which later. And that is why in the article I will use publicly available photos, e.g. those posted on Wikipedia. Moreover, they are of better quality than pictures of a tourist taken with a “freehand” camera.
The fresco is located on three walls of the room. The longest fragment is on the left side. The shortest, central part, unfortunately, was significantly damaged. The right side is separated by a wide window facing the portico, which is important for some researchers arguing about the purpose of this room. While there is no doubt that this fresco contains numerous religious allegories, there is a dispute as to whether this room really served the Dionysian mysteries, or how some would like it, this fresco is the most ordinary decoration of the household of a wealthy Roman family, and together it is only a metaphor for marriage. For if it were to be a place of secret rites, shouldn’t it be more hidden from the outside world? In my article, as a lover of secrets, I am arbitrarily in favour of the more mystical lineage of the symbolism of this room. Such a view has more poetry in my opinion, especially when combined with the magic of a city frozen in time. As even opponents of this concept admit, it is not without foundation. It simply cannot be shown unequivocally.
When starting to analyze the content of the fresco, it will be necessary to go back in time and space, that is, enter ancient Greece several centuries before the fresco was performed, and look at the cult of Dionysus. This is important for understanding the symbols on the walls. Contemporary man, with a limited course in mythology at school, does not understand the characters and archetypes of antiquity, we have our own cultural patterns, including the currently popular Internet memes. A Roman, torn from 50 BCE, will unmistakably recognize most of the beings and gods depicted on a Pompeian fresco, and immediately list their hidden religious meanings. But imagine his helplessness when we present him with a simplified drawing scheme in the form of a hill with three crosses placed on it. The symbol of the torment of Jesus of Nazareth, which is obvious to our culture, will be a mystery to them. Not to mention the dogs, sad frogs, or a certain moustachioed city guard who, to his dissatisfaction and despair, has become the archetype of a Pole. Looking at the figures of the fresco, let’s reach for a handful of Dionysian myths in order to better understand its hidden content.
Why the Dionysian Mysteries? Well, because in the central part, the most damaged[B], it is Dionysus who rests against the woman. In Greek art, he is depicted either as a mature, bearded man, or as a frivolous young man. On the Pompeian fresco, we find him in such a smooth form. The god’s hallmark is the thyrsos, or the sceptre of Dionysus – a long staff ending with a bunch of vines with a ribbon (sometimes a pine cone is visible instead of a vine). On his left side, he is accompanied by three silenes, i.e. creatures similar in appearance to satire, but their animal parts come from the horse (usually ears, tail, legs). Dionysus accompanied by a silenian is a frequent theme in Greek iconography. Here we have a typical silly, elderly fat man offering the younger a jug of wine, while the other silly youth is holding up a theatrical mask. This is another prop that shows us that we are dealing here with Dionysus. The mask was an important element of the worship of this deity, and during some rites its presence was symbolized by placing a large mask on a wooden pole, which was served, for example, with the first gulp of wine. There is no doubt that the central figure depicted in this room is Dionysus. For the whole religious interpretation it is also important on whose lap it is resting, but let’s not anticipate the facts, let’s go to the left side of the fresco, for now, [A].
Looking from the left, we see a dignified matron supervising a young boy busy reading, in the background another young man (a woman?) Also holding a scroll. Then we see (here I owe a slight technical note, when discussing groups of characters, please do not pay attention to the black bars painted on the fresco) four women, as is usually interpreted, engaged in the sacrificial rite. Behind a group of women we have three fairy-tale characte