Graffiti in Ancient Rome

[guy]

 

 

This is a delightful article from Antigone about graffiti in the Roman Empire.

 

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The plethora of graffiti in Pompeii suggests that it was seen as completely acceptable, reflected in the many genuine author names that were attached to such writings. Not all graffiti comprised letters, with many containing figures or numbers. The graffiti often covers the front of grand houses, as if the public-facing side of a domestic wall was seen as belonging to the civic domain. Some graffiti is on the inside walls of houses, often in the reception rooms as if these too belonged to the visitors. I think we would be rather perplexed if our guests wrote on our dining-room walls, but not in Pompeii. Many dipinti are electoral notices and pledges of political support for individual candidates, some of which are painted over existing artworks. Pliny the Younger (AD 61–112) even mentions graffiti scratched onto a shrine at Clitumnus (Epistles 8.8.7).

 

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Often there was an element of sexual machismo and swagger about these taunts: “Floronius, privileged soldier of the 7th legion, was here but the women did not come to know him, except for a few, who will be six in number” (Floronius benef(icarius) ac miles leg(ionis) VII hic fuit neque mulieres scierunt nisi paucae et ses erunt, CIL 4.8767).[1] Some of it is pretty crude. “Theophilus, you dog, don’t perform oral sex on girls against the city wall,” advises one graffito on a street wall (Tiopilus, canis, cunnu(m) lingere noli puellis in muro, CIL 4.8898). Some of it was plain abusive: “Epaphra, you are bald!” (Epaphra glaber es, CIL 4.1816) said one; another “Chie, I hope your haemorrhoids rub together so much that they hurt worse than they ever have before!” (Chie, opto tibi ut refricent se ficus tuae ut peius ustulentur quam ustulatae sunt, CIL 4.1820). But some display a sense of camaraderie, such as this partially surviving elegiac couplet: “We two dear men, friends forever, were here. If (you want to know) the names, (they were Gaius and Aulus)” (hic fuimus cari duo nos sine fine sodales. / nomina si (quaeris, Caius et Aulus erant), CIL 4.8162).

 

https://antigonejournal.com/2022/03/roman-graffiti/

 

There have been a few interesting posts in the past about ancient Roman graffiti, including this post:

 

 

No doubt that ancient graffiti will continue to give insights about everyday life in ancient Rome.

Edited March 28, 2022 by guy