Uncovered in what was once a spacious banqueting hall that opened onto a garden, the frieze dates back to the 1st century BC, meaning it was nearly 100 years old when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, burying Pompeii in pumice and killing more than 2,000 inhabitants.

The narrative draws from the ancient Greek play The Bacchae, written by Euripides in 405 BCE, wherein Dionysus descends on Thebes seeking retribution for slander against him. The

Huge frescoes depicting the ancient god of wine Dionysus have been unearthed at Pompeii in what has been hailed as a major archaeological breakthrough. The frieze has been discovered in a spacious banqueting room in Insula 10,

"In 100 years' time, today will be remembered as historic because the discovery we are presenting is historic." Archaeologists excavating at the doomed Roman city of Pompeii, which was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 C.