The Walls of Pompeii

The walls of Pompeii preserve thousands of graffiti dating from the last years preceding the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. These inscriptions show a written culture much more everyday than is often imagined for the Roman world: electoral campaigns, commercial announcements, insults, sexual jokes, or simple personal messages cover the city's facades.

Pompeian graffiti constitute one of the best preserved ensembles of vernacular writing of Antiquity. Engraved, painted, or traced with charcoal, they appear in taverns, private houses, streets, and several public buildings.

These inscriptions reveal a practice of writing much more socially diffused than suggested by the great Latin literary texts transmitted by medieval manuscripts. Several messages support candidates in municipal elections or announce gladiator combats. Others simply relate to ordinary conversations, jokes, or amorous declarations.

The tone is often very direct. Some authors insult neighbors, mock political adversaries, or leave explicitly sexual comments. This diversity offers historians an unusually concrete access to daily social interactions in a medium-sized Roman city.

Researchers also study the way these inscriptions structure urban space. Walls function as communication surfaces constantly reused, erased, or covered. The eruption of Vesuvius brutally interrupts this dynamic and preserves not only Pompeii's architecture but also the most ordinary traces of its social life.