Reading Ancient Rome's Best Graffiti

For as long as people have erected structures, other people have looked upon those structures and thought, I am going to draw on that. The Romans were no exception. In fact, thousands of examples of graffiti created by people living in the Roman Empire have survived into the modern world. Ladies and gentlemen, hello and welcome to Fire of Learning. Let's look at some of these examples, starting with Pompeii, where over 11,000 samples of graffiti were preserved by the volcanic ash that buried the city in 79 AD. Written on the door of an ancient Roman inn, archaeologists discovered a helpful note once left for the staff. We have urinated in our beds. Host, I admit, we should not have done this. If you ask why, there was no chamber pot. Can you blame them? Many more examples come from taverns and pubs and the like. Cruel Lologus, why do you not love me? Satura was here on September 3rd. Adamidas got me pregnant. If anyone does not believe in Venus, they should look at my girlfriend. The finance officer of the Emperor Nero says this food is poison. Romans didn't need no Mamby Pamby Yelp. If you crossed them, they would write a complaint directly on the wall of your establishment, as this was. We two dear men, friends forever, were here. If you want to know our names, they are Gaius and Aulus. The man I am having dinner with is a barbarian. Lovers are like bees in that they live a honeyed life. As one of the most famous examples of ancient graffiti, archaeologists have even uncovered an argument between two men etched on the wall of a pub. The first contender, named Severus, wrote, Successus, a weaver, loves the innkeeper's slave girl, named Iris. She, however, does not love him. Still, he begs her to have pity on him. His rival wrote this. Goodbye. Successus responded by writing, Envious one, why do you get in the way? Submit to a more handsome man, one who is being treated very wrongly, and who is good-looking. Severus replied, I have spoken. I have written all there is to say. You love Iris, but she does not love you. Secundus took a crap here. This piece of wisdom, doubtlessly bestowed upon the world by a great scholar, was etched onto the wall of a latrine. In fact, to either drive the point home or to keep tally, he wrote this three times. In the gladiator barracks, it was written on the walls, Caelodus, the Thracian gladiator, is loved by all the girls. I wonder who wrote that. Five days before the calends of September, the fight will take place. Felix will fight against the bears. Also in the barracks, we find it written, on April 19th, I made bread. Another couple wrote, Antiochus hung out here with his girlfriend, Ketera. On the wall of a house, it was written, to the one defecating here, beware of the curse. If you look down upon this curse, may you have an angry Jupiter as an enemy. I wonder if this had anything to do with Secundus. Publius Comicius Restitutus stood right here with his brother. Marcus loves Spedusa. Serena hates Isidorus. A copper pot went missing from my shop. Anyone who returns it to me will be given 65 sesterci. Twenty more will be given for information leading to the capture of the thief. I don't want to sell my husband, not for all the gold in the world. Opius, clown, thief, petty crook. In the basilica, it was written, Epaphra, you are bald. A small problem gets larger if you ignore it. Phileros is a eunuch. Pyrrhus to his colleague, Caius, I grieve because I hear you have died, and so farewell. Lucius Istikidius, he, at whose place I do not eat, is a barbarian to me. Virgula to her friend, Tertius, you are disgusting. Ampliatus Pedania is a thief. Many examples, of course, took the form of drawings, ranging from simplistic portrayals low to the ground, obviously the works of children, to somewhat detailed scenes, such as this one. The bottom two are a restoration of the top two. It depicts two men gambling. In the first scene, the man on the left says, you lose, while the one on the right responds, it's not three, but two. The second scene depicts them fighting, the loser claiming victory, the winner declaring his innocence. The new figure is the tavern owner, ordering them to take their fight outside. Oh, walls, you have held up so much tedious graffiti, that I am amazed that you have not already collapsed and ruined. Sara, you are not being very nice, leaving me all alone like this. Numerius Barca, a fine man, I appeal to you to elect him member of the board of two. So may Venus of Pompeii, holy hallowed goddess, be kind to you. Numerius Barca, may you rot. Quinctius, let anyone who votes against him be kicked by a donkey. Scorus's Bestgarum, mackerel-based, from Scorus's manufacturers. Not graffiti, but on the lid of a bronze toilet casket, it was written, made in Rome by Novius Plautius. It's important to note that many, many of the prominent pieces of graffiti, especially in Pompeii, are too sexual or violent to show here. Especially the former, there is no shortage of comments or boasts or pictures of that nature. Very reminiscent of a high school bathroom stall. Another location which has preserved Roman graffiti are the pyramids of Egypt. The pyramids are littered with graffiti from the time of its builders themselves to the tourists of today. However, much of it comes from ancient Greek and Roman tourists. Like in Pompeii, many of these scribblings are very simple. Things such as, so-and-so was here, or, I, Ammonius, Singularus of Italy, saw and admired it. Although some of them, the show-offs, wrote entire poems. Some, however, very much resemble something like the comment section of a YouTube video. One person complained, I visited and did not like anything except a sarcophagus. Another person complained, I cannot read the hieroglyphics. Under that, someone replied, why do you care that you cannot read the hieroglyphics? I do not understand your concern. Apparently, the ancient graffiti on the pyramids might have actually been encouraged by the locals as a part of the tourist experience. Indeed, as you are perhaps suspecting, there was, it seems, a much more relaxed attitude about graffiti in the Roman Empire, to the point of it even being encouraged in some circumstances. In cities like Pompeii, people even graffiti the exteriors and interiors of homes. Consistent with this, the way in which the graffiti was left suggests the graffitists were not aiming to deface the structure, but rather to simply leave a mark, communicate, advertise, share information, advice, or just write insulting or humorous nonsense in a way that was probably semi or fully socially acceptable, depending on the circumstances. Likely, there were some rules and etiquette, with certain areas seeming to have been off-limits. In this video, we've even seen prominent members of society creating graffiti and signing their names under it, not just teenagers. Thus, several scholars have compared it more to a kind of ancient social media, rather than vandalism. These trivial markings offer a valuable insight into life in the Roman Empire. Our understanding of Rome mostly comes from the works of its leaders, intellectuals, and elites, who wrote about things like history, philosophy, and law. It's less common to hear about everyday things from everyday people. These things tell us a great amount about what it was like to be a Roman, what the culture was like, how people acted, what they cared about, the grammatical mistakes tell us how people spoke, the signatures tell us who could read, etc. Overall, these graffiti make the ancients very relatable and very human. We can infer from even the simplest of them that their authors were real people, living full and complex lives, with thoughts and concerns and emotions that were very similar to our own. As amusing as many of them are, there is also something haunting about them. There are clearly entire stories behind these markings, but we'll never know them. They're simply the faint echoes of people who lived in a world that disappeared a long time ago. But of course, their authors do live on in what they left behind, both in terms of physical remains like what is found in Pompeii, but also how they affected others. I hope you enjoyed this video. If so, I invite you to come check out the rest of Fire of Learning, and to subscribe to see more videos like this in the future. To further support the channel, you may make a donation on Patreon, the link to which is in the description. A special thanks to our current supporters listed here. We also have a science channel, much like this, called Lucinox, so be sure to check that out too. And as the Romans said in their videos, gratias tibiago for watching.