About this episode
This episode explores the significance of Roman graffiti as a reflection of society and daily life in ancient Rome.
Expressions of love, bawdy jokes, political satire or even just saying so-and-so was here - few things bring us as close to the Romans as their graffiti. In large part, thanks to Vesuvius preserving the streets of Pompeii and Herculaneum under rock and ash. In this episode, Mary and Charlotte look at what graffiti tells us about Roman society - both the relatable aspects and the unfathomable. Perhaps the biggest difference is the enhanced role graffiti played in a society which did not have forms of mass communication. Roman graffiti is like graffiti today, but also like social media. In both cases, nobody thought anyone would be looking at it 2000 years later. Roman graffiti goes beyond the official documents. It’s a rare glimpse of daily life and opinions that we today weren’t intended to see. Mary and Charlotte recommend some further reading: A searchable database of graffiti in Pompeii and Herculaneum: https://ancientgraffiti.org/Graffiti/ Charlotte’s article on the Spanish amphora scratched with a Virgil quote: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/24/ancient-roman-pot-virgil-poetry Charlotte discusses the ‘conticuere omnes’ Virgil quote found in Silchester in…
People in this episode
Hosts: Mary, Charlotte
Topics covered
- Roman graffiti
- daily life
- society
- mass communication
- historical expressions
- Pompeii
- Herculaneum
Keywords
- Roman graffiti
- Pompeii
- Herculaneum
- daily life
- Virgil
- social media
- historical expressions
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: The Guardian, Oxford UP, Cambridge UP
Books & works: Under Another Sky, Graffiti and the Literary Landscape in Roman Pompeii, The Brothel of Pompeii
Places: Pompeii, Herculaneum, Silchester
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