Pompeii had a secret CULT for 'raving, intoxicated women'. It's been left unseen for more than 2,000 years, buried under volcanic ash from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Now, archeologists have uncovered a sensational fresco in Pompeii depicting a mysterious cult of raving, intoxicated women.

Found at the newly-excavated House of Thiasus, the wall art depicts female followers of Dionysus, the ancient Greek god of wine-making, insanity and ritual madness. Wearing long, flowing animal skins, these intoxicated women are eating meat, carrying swords and animal innards and wearing slaughtered goats on their shoulders.

The vast scene, spanning three sides of a room at Pompeii's House of Thiasus, has been dated to the 40s-30s BC. So at the time of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 which buried Pompeii beneath a thick layer of pumice and ash, the scene was already about 120 years old.

Around the walls are female members of the cult devoted to Dionysus, known as Maenads, which means 'to rave, to be mad; to rage, to be angry'. Maenads are portrayed as dancers, but also as ferocious hunters with slaughtered goats on their shoulders, holding swords or the innards of an animal. 'Maenad expressed the wild, untameable side of women,' said Dr Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii.

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