Villa dei Misteri | |
Location | Pompeii, Italy |
---|---|
Region | Campania |
Coordinates | 40°45′13.3″N14°28′38.8″E / 40.753694°N 14.477444°E |
Type | Roman villa |
History | |
Founded | 2nd century BC |
Abandoned | 79 AD |
Periods | Roman Republic, Roman Empire |
Events | Eruption of Mount Vesuvius |
Site notes | |
Discovered | 1909 |
Excavation dates | 1909-1910, 1929-1930 |
Archaeologists | Aurelio Item, Giuseppe Spano, Amadeo Maiuri |
Condition | Well-preserved |
Ownership | Public |
Management | Soprintendenza Pompei |
Public access | Yes |
The Villa of the Mysteries (Italian : Villa dei Misteri) is a well-preserved suburban ancient Roman villa on the outskirts of Pompeii, southern Italy. It is famous for the series of exquisite frescos in Room 5, which are usually interpreted as showing the initiation of a bride into a Greco-Roman mystery cult. These are now among the best known of the relatively rare survivals of Ancient Roman painting from the 1st century BC.
Like the rest of the Roman city of Pompeii, the villa was buried in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. It was excavated from 1909 onwards. It is now a popular part of tourist visits to Pompeii and forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site at Pompeii.
The villa is located some 400 m northwest of the town walls, between the roads Via Delle Tombe and Via Superiore lined with funerary monuments leading to the Herculaneum Gate of Pompeii, and is near the Villa of Diomedes and the so-called Villa of Cicero. It lies on a hill with an expansive view of the current Gulf of Naples; it rests on a slope and is partly supported by a cryptoporticus formed by blind arches.
The villa was built in the 2nd century BC and reached its period of maximum splendor during the Augustan age when it was considerably enlarged and embellished. Recent research, however, has posited that the villa was built in the early 1st century BC around the time of Sulla. [1] This analysis is based on stratigraphic evidence and the dating of the Second Style frescoes, which are the earliest decoration in the villa stylistically dating to the early 1st century BC. [1] After construction, it was then a villa urbana, which is a type of suburban villa, with large rooms and hanging gardens, in a panoramic position. Following the earthquake of 62 AD, it fell into disrepair, as did much of the city, and was transformed into a villa rustica with the addition of agricultural equipment such as a wine press. The building was then mainly used for the production and sale of wine. [2]
The ownership of the Villa is unknown, as is the case with many private homes in Pompeii. A bronze seal was found in the villa that names L. Istacidius Zosimus, a freedman of the powerful Istacidii family, who was either the owner of the Villa or the overseer of its reconstruction after the earthquake of 62 AD. The presence of a statue of Livia, wife of Augustus, has led some historians to suggest that she was a previous owner. [3]
The villa, initially called Villa Item, named after its discoverer, Aurelio Item, [4] [5] was uncovered between 1909 and 1910 in an excavation conducted by Giuseppe Spano; a more in-depth investigation was carried out between 1929 and 1930 by Amadeo Maiuri, following the expropriation imposed by the Italian State. [2]
Important restoration and conservation work on the frescoes took place from 2013 to 2015. [6]
In 2018, archaeologists discovered the unique remains of harnessed horses. [7] [8] [9] The stable was excavated following the discovery in 2017 of illegal tunnels around the walls of the villa to steal artifacts, which had destroyed one of the bodies.
Although covered with meters of pumice and ash, the Villa sustained only minor damage during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Most of its walls, ceilings, and particularly its frescoes survived largely intact.
The ancient entrance, which is located directly opposite the modern entrance, had benches for waiting clients and led to service rooms, including a courtyard for storing and unloading produce, servants' quarters, and rooms for agricultural equipment. [10] A wine press discovered during excavations has been restored to its original location. It was not uncommon for the homes of the very wealthy to include areas for the production of wine, olive oil, or other agricultural products, especially since many elite Romans owned farmland or orchards in the immediate vicinity of their villas. Past the entrance is the peristyle, the bathing and kitchen quarters, and the main atrium with an impluvium which leads into a triclinium with access to a portico with a view of the Gulf of Naples. [10] Room 5, which is decorated with the famous frescoes for which the villa is named, lies to the right of Room 4, which is a cubiculum often identified as a "nuptial chamber." [10]
Though often believed to be a triclinium , Room 5 could have been a cubiculum or, as Brenda Longfellow posits, even multifunctional and used by various family members at different times of day or on different days. [11] Because the exact use of the room is uncertain, it is also often referred to as an oecus , but it cannot securely be characterized as such. [11] Room 5 is located at the back of the villa off of a peristyle with only one entrance and exit, making it one of the least accessible rooms in the villa to visitors. Because of its rich decoration and relative inaccessibility, it is thought to have been used on special occasions for invited guests. [11]
The bodies of two women and a child were found in lower pumice eruption layers of the Villa, [12] suggesting that they were caught in the early stages of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. They were on the upper floor of the farm section and plaster casts were made of them as in other areas of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Six bodies (one girl near the entrance, one woman, four others in the cryptoporticus) were found in the later higher pyroclastic eruption layers indicating they had survived the first part of the catastrophe.
External videos | |
---|---|
Dionysiac frieze, Villa of Mysteries, Pompeii, Smarthistory [13] |
The villa is named for the paintings Room 5, which are in the Second Style and dated to about 70-60 BC. [14] Although the actual subject of the frescoes is debated, [15] the most common interpretation is that they depict the initiation of a woman into matrimony in accordance with the Dionysian Mysteries, a mystery cult devoted to the god known to the Romans as Bacchus. [16] [17] Specific rites were required to become a member. A key feature that helps to identify these scenes as Bacchic is the depiction of maenads, the deity's female followers. These devotees are often shown dancing with swirling drapery on painted Greek pottery from the sixth century BC onward. [18] [19] There are many different interpretations of the frescoes, but they are commonly believed to depict a religious rite in some form. A common theory is that the frescoes depict a bride initiating into the Bacchic Mysteries in preparation for marriage. [17] In this hypothesis, the elaborate costume worn by the main figure is believed to be wedding apparel. [20]
The famous frescoes of the villa were first discovered in 1909, but they were soon damaged by a combination of poor protection from the elements and an earthquake that occurred in June. [6] The major problems that developed were damp and salt-residues that leached from the ground, causing white stains to appear on the surface of the paintings. To counteract this, large sections of the frescoes were removed and re-attached after the walls were rebuilt with new stone to better resist the damp and salt leaching.
According to the preservation methods prevalent at the time, coatings of wax and petroleum were applied to remove the residues and provide protection, which accounts for the glossy sheen which was characteristic of the frescoes in the 20th/early 21st centuries. These coatings proved remarkably effective in protecting the paintings from further damage, but one side effect was that they distorted the original colouring, making the red background appear darker than the original pigment. [6] Later in 1909, a German team of archaeologists undertook further restorations onsite.
Between 2013 and 2015, restorations were undertaken on the frescoes using modern techniques. This included treatment with the antibiotic amoxicillin, which removed the manganese dioxide that had leached into the paintings from the ground, and the streptococci bacteria which feed on the pigments and cause deterioration. [6] [21] Other treatment included the analysis and restoration of the original colour tones, after laser technology was used to remove the layers of wax and petroleum applied in the early 20th century. [22] [23]
Based on the subject matter and order of the frescoes, they are intended to be read as a single narrative. The scenes represent different moments in the initiation ritual into the Bacchic Mysteries. [17] Women and satyrs are featured prominently, with the villa owner's family possibly acting as models for the women and children depicted in the frescoes. [24] Given the widely accepted theory that the murals portray aspects of the cult of Bacchus, some propose that the frescoed room itself was used to conduct initiations and other rituals, although the exact use of this room is heavily debated. [11] Molly Swetnam-Burland has argued against this interpretation of the room, stating that when compared to other depictions of Bacchus in religious contexts around Pompeii, the Bacchus in these frescoes is different in key aspects, demonstrating that this is not a religious space. [25]
In light of the recent restorations, Elaine K. Gazda has reexamined the figures and their relationship to each other in the frescoes and in life. [27] Gazda argues that the restorations have made possible the identification of the women depicted in the frescoes, not as the same woman repeated throughout an initiation scene, but as portraits of different women with their own individualized features. [27] She identifies the matron in the last mural as the domina of the villa, the bride in the sixth mural as her daughter, the Bacchus as the dominus, and the others as the men and women of the familia , such as relatives and enslaved people. [27]
in 2011 the band Corde Oblique released the track "Slide", inspired by the frescoes of the mysteries. Few ancient musical instrument reconstructions have been performed in this song, like the lyre and the Pan flute. The song is included in the album "A hail of bitter almonds".
The Villa of the Mysteries is also an important location in the novel Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice, part of the Vampire Chronicles, being a central place for a romance plotline between characters Armand and Daniel.
In Greek mythology, Silenus was a companion and tutor to the wine god Dionysus. He is typically older than the satyrs of the Dionysian retinue (thiasos), and sometimes considerably older, in which case he may be referred to as a Papposilenus. Silen and its plural sileni refer to the mythological figure as a type that is sometimes thought to be differentiated from a satyr by having the attributes of a horse rather than a goat, though usage of the two words is not consistent enough to permit a sharp distinction.
Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum has been both exhibited as art and censored as pornography. The Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum around the bay of Naples were destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, thereby preserving their buildings and artefacts until extensive archaeological excavations began in the 18th century. These digs revealed the cities to be rich in erotic artefacts such as statues, frescoes, and household items decorated with sexual themes.
The Galleria Borghese is an art gallery in Rome, Italy, housed in the former Villa Borghese Pinciana. At the outset, the gallery building was integrated with its gardens, but nowadays the Villa Borghese gardens are considered a separate tourist attraction. The Galleria Borghese houses a substantial part of the Borghese Collection of paintings, sculpture and antiquities, begun by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the nephew of Pope Paul V. The building was constructed by the architect Flaminio Ponzio, developing sketches by Scipione Borghese himself, who used it as a villa suburbana, a country villa at the edge of Rome.
The Loves of the Gods is a monumental fresco cycle, completed by the Bolognese artist Annibale Carracci and his studio, in the Farnese Gallery which is located in the west wing of the Palazzo Farnese, now the French Embassy, in Rome. The frescoes were greatly admired at the time, and were later considered to reflect a significant change in painting style away from sixteenth century Mannerism in anticipation of the development of Baroque and Classicism in Rome during the seventeenth century.
The Villa Poppaea is an ancient luxurious Roman seaside villa located in Torre Annunziata between Naples and Sorrento, in Southern Italy. It is also called the Villa Oplontis or Oplontis Villa A as it was situated in the ancient Roman town of Oplontis.
The Pompeian Styles are four periods which are distinguished in ancient Roman mural painting. They were originally delineated and described by the German archaeologist August Mau (1840–1909) from the excavation of wall paintings at Pompeii, which is one of the largest groups of surviving Roman frescoes.
The House of the Tragic Poet is a Roman house in Pompeii, Italy dating to the 2nd century BCE. The house is famous for its elaborate mosaic floors and frescoes depicting scenes from Greek mythology.
The House of Loreius Tiburtinus is renowned for well-preserved art, mainly in wall-paintings as well as its large gardens.
The House of Menander is one of the richest and most magnificent houses in ancient Pompeii in terms of architecture, decoration and contents, and covers a large area of about 1,800 square metres (19,000 sq ft) occupying most of its insula. Its quality means the owner must have been an aristocrat involved in politics, with great taste for art.
The Temple of Isis is a Roman temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis. This small and almost intact temple was one of the first discoveries during the excavation of Pompeii in 1764. Its role as a Hellenized Egyptian temple in a Roman colony was fully confirmed with an inscription detailed by Francisco la Vega on July 20, 1765. Original paintings and sculptures can be seen at the Museo Archaeologico in Naples; the site itself remains on the Via del Tempio di Iside. In the aftermath of the temple's discovery many well-known artists and illustrators swarmed to the site.
Villa Boscoreale is a name given to any of several Roman villas discovered in the district of Boscoreale, Italy. They were all buried and preserved by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, along with Pompeii and Herculaneum. The only one visible in situ today is the Villa Regina, the others being reburied soon after their discovery. Although these villas can be classified as "rustic" rather than of otium due to their agricultural sections and sometimes lack of the most luxurious amenities, they were often embellished with extremely luxurious decorations such as frescoes, testifying to the wealth of the owners. Among the most important finds are the exquisite frescoes from the Villa of Publius Fannius Synistor and the sumptuous Boscoreale Treasure of the Villa della Pisanella, which is now displayed in several major museums.
Pompeii was a city in what is now the municipality of Pompei, near Naples, in the Campania region of Italy. Along with Herculaneum, Stabiae, and many surrounding villas, the city was buried under 4 to 6 m of volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.
Stabiae was an ancient city situated near the modern town of Castellammare di Stabia and approximately 4.5 km southwest of Pompeii. Like Pompeii, and being only 16 km (9.9 mi) from Mount Vesuvius, it was largely buried by tephra ash in the 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius, in this case at a shallower depth of up to 5 m.
The House of the Centenary was the house of a wealthy resident of Pompeii, preserved by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The house was discovered in 1879, and was given its modern name to mark the 18th centenary of the disaster. Built in the mid-2nd century BC, it is among the largest houses in the city, with private baths, a nymphaeum, a fish pond (piscina), and two atria. The Centenary underwent a remodeling around 15 AD, at which time the bath complex and swimming pool were added. In the last years before the eruption, several rooms had been extensively redecorated with a number of paintings.
The conservation and restoration of Pompeian frescoes describes the activities, methods, and techniques that have historically been and are currently being used to care for the preserved remains of the frescoes from the archeological site of Pompeii, Italy. The ancient city of Pompeii is famously known for its demise in A.D. 79 after the fatal eruption of Mount Vesuvius wiped out the population and buried the city beneath layers of compact lava material. In 1738, King Charles III or Charles of Bourbon, began explorations in Portici, Resina, Castellammare di Stabia, a Civita, where it was believed that the ancient cities of Pompeii, Stabiae, and Herculaneum were buried beneath. The first phase of the excavations at Pompeii started in 1748, which led to the first conservation and restoration efforts of the frescoes since their burial, and in 1764, open-air excavations began at Pompeii. Pompeii has a long history of excavation and restoration that began without a strong foundation or strategy. After centuries of cronyism, recurring financial shortages, and on-again-off-again restoration, the city's frescoes and structures were left in poor condition. In 1997, Pompeii was added to the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites.
Several non-native societies had an influence on Ancient Pompeian culture. Historians’ interpretation of artefacts, preserved by the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79, identify that such foreign influences came largely from Greek and Hellenistic cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean, including Egypt. Greek influences were transmitted to Pompeii via the Greek colonies in Magna Graecia, which were formed in the 8th century BC. Hellenistic influences originated from Roman commerce, and later conquest of Egypt from the 2nd century BC.
This glossary of the culture of ancient Rome includes terms used by academics studying Roman history and archaeologists excavating Roman sites.
The House of the Greek Epigrams is a Roman residence in the ancient town of Pompeii that was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. It is named after wall paintings with inscriptions from Greek epigrams in a small room (y) next to the peristyle.
Painting in ancient Rome is a rather poorly understood aspect of Roman art, as there are few survivals, which are mostly wall-paintings from Pompeii, Herculaneum and other sites buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, where many decorative wall paintings were preserved under the ashes and hardened lava. A smaller number of paintings survive from other areas, including Rome itself.
Agrippa Postumus, a grandson of the Emperor Augustus, had a villa on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius, which was buried in the eruption of 79 AD. The villa lies within the current comune of Boscotrecase, Campania, Italy. The villa is best known for its ancient Roman works of art, especially its frescoes. Because the ash from Mount Vesuvius's eruption preserved the frescoes, they were able to be excavated between 1903 and 1905. The frescoes come from various cubicula, or bedrooms that served as places of sociability and business, along the villa's southern hallway that overlooks the bay of Naples.