It is an iconic image which conveys the human dimension of one of the world’s worst natural disasters that still resonates 2,000 years later.

Two bodies found wrapped in a poignant embrace in their final moments as they were covered beneath molten rock and layers of ash in the ancient city of Pompeii when Mount Vesuvius violently erupted in 79 A.D.

The bodies were dubbed “The Two Maidens” when they were first discovered but in a startling discovery this week scientists found the two bodies were actually male - raising speculation that they may have been gay lovers.

"Pompeii never ceases to amaze," said Massimo Osanna, director-general of the world-famous archaeological site.

"We always imagined that it was an embrace between women. But a CAT scan and DNA have revealed that they are men. "You can’t say for sure that the two were lovers. But considering their position, you can make that hypothesis. It is difficult to say with certainty.”

For the past two years restorers have been working on the carefully preserved plaster casts of 86 victims who were trapped in Pompeii following the deadly eruption of Vesuvius.

Thousands were killed when molten rock, volcanic ash and deadly gases engulfed the Roman town in a fiery eruption that lasted two days.