Pompeii - Villa of the Mysteries

(Local Name: Villa dei Misteri) 200m/220yd northwest of the Villa of Diomedes, outside the main excavation area, is the magnificent Villa of the Mysteries (Villa dei Misteri; reached from the main entrance to the excavations on a road which runs past the station (500m/550yd) and continues for another 700m/770yd), with the finest surviving ancient wall paintings, preserved in all the brilliance of their original coloring. The most remarkable of these is a frieze 17m/19yd long in the large triclinium with almost life-size figures, dating from the pre-Augustan period (probably based on models of the third century B.C.), which depicts scenes from the Dionysiac mysteries.