Another new discovery in the ruins of Pompeii has shed light on the wilder side of the ancient Romans. An extremely rare frieze known as a “megalography,” or painting with life-sized figures, has been unearthed in an area where ongoing excavations have produced some of the ancient site’s most important finds.

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