The winged figure in the “Villa dei Misteri” fresco and the spinning top in ancient rituals

Abstract

This paper focuses on the megalography of the “Villa dei Misteri” and its winged figure provided with a scourge. A few literary sources suggest a new interpretation of her action. In particular, I believe that this character hints at a whipping actually echoed in Dionysiac rituals. This whipping was aimed at prompting the acolyte to a whirling dance step. This choreography was based upon the parallelism between the dancer and a spinning top, traditionally put in motion by a δάκνον-πληγή of an οἶστρος-stimulus. The infernal shape of the figure evokes the Furies of Iuno, who commonly bear stimuli to produce a Dionysiac mania. The presence of a Dionysiac “spinning top dance” is also consistent with the hierogamic theme central in the fresco, since the spinning top was also connected to the female initiations (which in my opinion are evoked in the megalography) and to the symbolism of love, marriage and, more generally, of life – through the parallelism with the spindle, too.