Ornamental decorations were found on the walls of a small house at the famous archaeological site near Naples.
Archaeologists from the ancient Roman city of Pompeii have discovered a house with finely preserved frescoes of mythological scenes, including some erotic ones, the management of the archaeological site located near Naples, in southern Italy, said Thursday, October 24.
The residence, nicknamed “Phaedra's House”, in homage to the mythological queen of Athens who appears in one of the murals, highlights the evolution of architectural styles during the first century AD.
Unlike most houses excavated at the site, this one was not built around the traditional Roman atrium. Despite its small size, it “strikes us with the high level of its wall decorations,” say the archaeologists in a press release.
The frescoes found are of similar quality to those which decorate other, much larger and more opulent houses.
In addition to the fresco where we can observe Phèdre, scantily clad with her stepson Hippolyte, whom she accused of rape after refusing his advances according to Greek legend, other mythological scenes in bright colors adorn the walls of the house were discovered.
Preserved despite time and the eruption of Vesuvius
One of them depicts sexual intercourse between a satyr and a nymph. As The Guardian recalls, numerous erotic drawings and sculptures were exhibited in Pompeii, without this constituting a provocative connotation.
Another fresco highlights gods who, according to the archaeological site of Pompeii, could be Venus and Adonis. Many motifs and scenes from nature are also visible. If they are smaller in size, they are completely preserved, despite time.
The city of Pompeii and the surrounding countryside of the Campania region were submerged in volcanic ash during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The eruption killed thousands of Romans who did not know they lived there. shadow of one of the largest volcanoes on the continent. The city was buried under a thick layer of ash, reducing many of its inhabitants and buildings to statues.
Gabriel Joly with Reuters