page_title: House of the Vettii
section_title: Death of Pentheus
hierarchical_section_title: House of the Vettii / Paintings / Death of Pentheus
caption_attribution_description: English: Pentheus being torn by maenads. Roman fresco from the northern wall of the triclinium in the Casa dei Vettii (VI 15,1) in Pompeii. Deutsch: Pentheus wird von Mänaden zerrissen. Römisches Fresko von der Nordwand des Tricliniums in der Casa dei Vettii (VI 15,1) in Pompeji.
context_page_description: The House of the Vettii is a domus located in the Roman town, Pompeii, which was preserved by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The house is named for its owners, two successful freedmen: Aulus Vettius Conviva, an Augustalis, and Aulus Vettius Restitutus. Its careful excavation has preserved almost all of the wall frescos, which were completed following the earthquake of 62 AD, in the manner art historians term the Pompeiian Fourth Style. The House of Vetti is located in region VI, near the Vesuvian Gate, bordered by the Vicolo di Mercurio and the Vicolo dei Vettii. The house is one of the largest domus in Pompeii, spanning the entire southern section of block 15. The plan is fashioned in a typical Roman domus with the exception of a tablinum, which is not included. There are twelve mythological scenes across four cubiculum and one triclinium.
context_section_description: The Death of Pentheus scene is located in the southern triclinium, surrounding the large peristyle, and painted on the east wall. The scene depicts Pentheus, the legendary King of Thebes, being killed by the female followers of Dionysus. When Dionysus returned to Thebes, Pentheus refused to believe Dionysus divinity as a god and imprisoned him, banning his worship. Dionysus escaped and enchanted Pentheus to go to Mt. Cithairon, disguised as a maenad. There he observed the celebration of the cult of Dionysus by the women of Thebes. In attendance was Pentheus' mother Agave and her sisters Ino and Autonoe. The women discovered Pentheus, hidden behind a pine tree, but mistook him as a lion. The women then attacked Pentheus, tearing him to pieces.
  In the scene depicted, Pentheus' mother and her sisters have discovered Pentheus and have begun to tear him apart. In the front is Pentheus who has fallen to one knee. His left hand is raised to his head and his right is stretched outwards with his palm facing up. To his right he stares at a maenead who has her foot on his left knee and grasps his hair with her left hand. She raises a thyrsos in her right hand to strike him with. To his left is another maenaed who grabs his left arm with both hands and leans back to pull him back. Below Pentheus is a spear. Behind him are three other females. The center maenaed holds a stone above her head, about to hurl it at Pentheus. Two erinys are in each upper hand corner. The erinys in the left corner raises a whip to strike Pentheus.
caption: Death of Pentheus
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