Fresco Panel Depicting Dionysos and Ariadne

Nude but for the drapery swirling around them, Bacchus and his consort Ariadne walk with arms entwined against a plain white background, as if floating. Ariadne lifts a ceremonial drinking horn called a rhyton, while Bacchus carries a kantharos (wine cup). The scene is surrounded by a double border. This square fresco panel, possibly from a ceiling, likely decorated the same room as two other thematically similar wall painting fragments that show a Silenus (see [83.AG.222.2](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/131809/unknown-maker-fresco-fragments-depicting-an-old-silenos-with-kantharos-and-thyrsos-roman-1st-century/)) and a maenad (see [83.AG.222.4.2](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/16275/unknown-maker-fresco-depicting-a-woman-maenad-holding-a-dish-peacock-and-fruit-below-roman-1st-century/)), both followers of the wine god Bacchus.