Back in the year 79 CE, Italy’s Mount Vesuvius erupted, ejecting tonnes of volcanic debris into the skies above the country’s southern, Campania region.

The nearby city of Pompeii – a modern city for its time – was buried under nine feet of volcanic ash, with the pyroclastic flow killing everyone in the city immediately due to its extreme temperatures.

What remains of Pompeii now is an incredible archaeological site, world-renowned due to the way in which the volcanic debris effectively froze the Roman city in time.

Though it is popular with tourists, archaeological work still goes on at the site to this day, with another fascinating discovery recently being published in the journal Heritage.

In this case, the discovery isn’t to do with the life of people living in the city at the time of Vesuvius’s eruption.

Instead, the findings regard an already-deceased member of Pompeii society, who was buried in Porta Sarno, a well-to-do burial ground in the city, in which some of the most respected and revered people were laid to rest.

During their excavations, archaeologists were perturbed by the symbolism of statues found in a tomb of an ancient husband and wife. Already the statues, of a bride and groom told the researchers a lot about the couple, as they explained in their paper:

“These statues and the rest of the tomb would have been of enormous cost, only within the reach of wealthy and influential women and men.”

Clearly wealthy and respected in the society, the imagery surrounding the wife is highly atypical of Pompeii brides of her time.

A close look at the statue told the researchers a lot about the woman who was depicted in the statue. Not only was the bride wearing a veil, suggesting demure and honest qualities, she also held a laurel branch which was commonly used for blessings and religious ceremonies.

Moreover, the woman wore a crescent moon pendant around her neck. These were unusual for brides to wear, since they were often worn by unmarried women in Pompeii; however, the symbol is also associated with Ceres, the fertility goddess.

With all this in mind, the researchers concluded that they’d made the rare discovery of the tomb of a Pompeii priestess, as they explain:

“The sculpture of the woman is one of the rare examples of a priestess being depicted with the objects characteristic of their religious position and the only one known so far in Pompeii.”

This confirmed to the archaeologists that Ceres was worshipped highly in the ancient city, while the lavish nature of her burial site show just how revered priests and priestesses were in the Pompeii.

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about why we should be worried about the leak in the bottom of the ocean.