A lavish painting of a mythological scene is among several newly discovered frescoes unearthed by archaeologists excavating the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, AFP reports.
The frescoes were discovered during restoration work around the mansion home of Leda, which is still strikingly colourful some 2,000 years after the city was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
The most striking of these depicts a scene from the Greek myth of Phrixus and his twin sister Hele fleeing from their stepmother Ino on the magic ram with the golden fleece.
Phrixus sits on the ram while his sister is seen falling into the water - "two refugees at sea from ancient Greece," noted Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park.
The fresco is painted as if it were a framed painting hung on a yellow wall. Others depicting still lifes and several portraits of women have also been newly discovered.
Excavations at the House of Leda, which began in the 18th century and were renewed in 2018, aim to recover the full plan of the site.
The frescoes are being cleaned to remove the volcanic ash that covered Pompeii when Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, and will then be restored.
Many of Pompeii's buildings - and even some of the bodies of the estimated 3,000 victims - have been perfectly preserved since the eruption.
Pompeii is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the second most visited tourist site in Italy after the Colosseum in Rome. / BGNES
