Sat 10 Sep 2005
Pink Floyd, Pompeii, and the Mysteries of Dionysos
Posted by Phil Harland. Categories: Greco-Roman religions and culture , Music , Mysteries , Religion and popular culture1 Comment
I recently re-watched Pink Floyd’s “Live at Pompeii” (originally 1972) film which has now been released as a director’s cut DVD (also with the original version included). The live concert was recorded (with no audience, I might add) in the amphitheatre at Pompeii, with excellent results in sound. The new director’s cut version of the film adds considerable Roman archeological material as background (the original version had some). In particular, “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun”, which is mesmerizing to begin with, is now interspersed with shots of the paintings from the Villa of the Mysteries (Villa Item), which pertain to the mysteries of the god Dionysos (Dionysus) or Bacchus (which you can read about here). If you do like Pink Floyd’s music or you are interested in Roman archeology and the mysteries, then it’s well worth a watch. It also has the track “Madame Nobs” (recorded in a studio, not Pompeii) which is a blues tune with harmonica and live howling dog accompaniment (my son enjoys that the most).


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December 13th, 2005 at 2:52 pm
4 Comments
Carole said…
There’s a way to make learning “Roman archeology and mysteries” interesting. I will have to check it out. Thanks
4:10 PM
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7:53 AM
Loren Rosson III said…
Thanks for this, Phil. I dig both — Pink Floyd and the Roman archaeology.
7:54 AM
Sacha M. said…
Being a Pink Floyd fan I have already seen ‘Live at Pompeii’. I shall have to pay better attention to the architecture next time, particularly during ‘Set the controls for the heart of the sun’ (which is a much wilder version than found on the ‘Saucerful of Secrets’ album [1968]). Great suggestion!