The partially mummified remains of an urbane Pompeii resident have been discovered in a tomb outside the city center, erected before the famous eruption that buried the town in ash.
According to the inscriptions on the tomb, the deceased was a man named Marcus Venerius Secundio, who was in his 60s when he died and was, at one point, enslaved. Later in life, after being freed, Secundio became a well-off priest who conducted rituals in Latin and Greek.
The tomb inscription referring to these Greek rituals is the first direct evidence of Greek performances being held in the Italian city.
