Archaeologists in Pompeii unearthed a rare tiny home while excavating the site of the ancient Italian city, officials said. The home was buried beneath the ash and debris that wiped out Pompeii when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D. but elaborate frescoes painted onto its interior walls have remained largely intact.

The house came into view during an ongoing construction project in one section of Pompeii Archaeological Park called Insula dei Casti Amanti, or House of Chaste Lovers, the park said in a translated announcement. Its size was uncommonly small compared with others found in Pompeii, including some situated close by, and adding to the intrigue is the fact that it contains such lavish art inside.

The frescoes mainly depict scenes from classic mythology. One well-preserved painting of Hippolytus and Phaedra, two characters from a Greek tragedy, gave the home its provisional name, the House of Phaedra. Hippolytus and Phaedra also appear in a small painting found elsewhere in the house.

Outside of those characters, archaeologists discovered a fresco depicting an embrace between a satyr — another figure from Greek mythology that is part-man, part-goat — and a nymph as well as one of a pair of deities thought to be Venus and Adonis, the park said. Another may be an illustration of the Judgement of Paris, another Greek myth, although the scene was difficult to decipher because the fresco had been damaged.

They found more artwork in the courtyard outside the home, which primarily included illustrations of plants and animals such as a bird of prey and two snakes facing each other. The snakes were positioned around an altar, according to the park, and people would have placed offerings there.

Some items from the last offering before the eruption were still there. Archaeologists discovered a ceramic incense burner as well as a lamp, which had traces of sprigs of scented essences detected through laboratory analyses. They also found colored marble and a sculpture of a face related to the Greek god Dionysus at the altar.

Park officials said the discoveries made at the ancient home, and the home itself, could help shed light on some of the changes Roman society was undergoing during the first century of the common era, particularly in Pompeii, since it is architecturally and stylistically different from its neighbors. A scientific paper discussing the house’s unusual layout was published in the archaeological park’s digital magazine focused on Pompeii.

Egypt’s president on Sunday said his country has proposed a two-day cease-fire between Israel and Hamas during which four hostages held in Gaza would be freed and some Palestinian prisoners would be released.

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, speaking in Cairo, said the proposal also includes the delivery of humanitarian aid to the besieged Gaza Strip. This is the first time Egypt’s president has publicly proposed such a plan.

Egypt, along with Qatar and the United States, has been a key mediator for peace talks between Israel and Hamas since the war broke out more than a year ago. Months of negotiations sputtered to a halt in August.

El-Sissi said the proposal aims to “move the situation forward,” adding that once the two-day cease-fire goes into effect, negotiations would continue to make it permanent.

There hasn’t been a cease-fire in 11 months, since November’s weeklong pause in fighting in which 105 hostages were released in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.

Egypt’s proposal comes as Israel’s top spy, Mossad chief David Barnea, is traveling to Doha on Sunday for talks with CIA Director William Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani.

There have not been any immediate reactions from Israel or Hamas to Egypt’s proposal.

During a government memorial Sunday for the Hebrew anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that “not every goal can be achieved through military operations.” He added that “painful compromises will be required” to return the hostages.

Egypt’s proposal came a day after Israeli strikes on Iran in response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Israel earlier this month. Iran’s supreme leader said the attack “should not be exaggerated nor downplayed,” while stopping short of calling for retaliation. It was Israel’s first open attack on its archenemy.

That exchange of fire has raised fears of an all-out regional war pitting Israel and the United States against Iran and its militant proxies, which include Hamas and the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, where Israel launched a ground invasion earlier this month after nearly a year of lower-level conflict sparked by the war in Gaza.