Arts & Culture
Carravagio’s “Bacchus” saved after flash flood in the Uffizi
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Torrential rains in Florence threatened to damage a painting of the god Bacchus by the Baroque master Caravaggio when a skylight leaked in the Uffizi gallery.
News
“Shouting barbarous words at the sky”: Singing Orphic Hymns at the Pagan Picnic
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“‘Dionysos, inspire us!’ came the call, and ‘Dionysos, inspire us!’ came the answer,” writes Eric O. Scott, describing his experience attending an Orphic Solar Rite at the 2026 St. Louis Pagan Picnic, hosted by the Kansas City Sorcerous Arts Collective.
Arts & Culture
“Ancient Splendor” brings Trajan’s artifacts to the US for the first time
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Weekend Editor Eric O. Scott reviews the new exhibition at the St. Louis Art Museum, “Ancient Splendor: Roman Art in the Time of Trajan.”
Europe
Maenads, satyrs, and initiates: friezes of Dionysiac mysteries uncovered in Pompeii
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Archaeologists have discovered a monumental frieze depicting worshipers of Dionysus in a newly excavated portion of Pompeii. The near-life-size paintings portray a procession of Dionysiac figures participating in an initiation ritual as part of the deity’s mystery cult.
Arts & Culture
Television from a Pagan World: Reviewing KAOS and Twilight of the Gods
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“When I was a teenage zealot, I used to imagine what television might be like in a world that was primarily Pagan,” writes Meg Elison. “I’ll never see that world, but this year a small window opened on it. Over the last week, I got acquainted with two Netflix shows about the Pagan world as it might have been: KAOS and Twilight of the Gods.”