Image Details

Photo courtesy of the Superintendency of Archaeology of Pompeii.

A satyr embraces a graceful maenad (one of the followers of the wine-god Bacchus) in this fragmentary fresco from the atrium of Stabiae’s Villa Arianna. The villa’s fanciful frescoes, manicured gardens, sea-view dining rooms, peristyle courtyards and elaborate nymphaeum (fountain) all suggest wealth, power and the kind of luxury that sometimes slips into decadence.