Graffiti is something we are very familiar with, but how many of us knew that this form of art was common in ancient Greece?
It may sound bizarre, but we know that in the countless ruins of ancient cities across the Greek world, a fascinating story of the lives of ordinary people can be found on the walls and objects that surrounded them in the form of graffiti.
Graffiti, very often overlooked in favor of other more beautiful and grand monuments and official inscriptions, gives us a unique and rare window into the daily life, experiences, thoughts, and even humor of the ancient Greeks.
Examples of graffiti in ancient Greece and Rome
Surprisingly enough, over 5,000 examples of ancient graffiti have been discovered so far in various cities. These range from simple names (also known as “tags” today) and greetings to much more intricate and clever quotes or even drawings (murals).
This overlooked wealth of mainly informal writing and drawings provides us with extremely valuable information and proper insights into the everyday, popular culture of the ancient world that cannot be found in formal historical sources and records.
The sheer number and variety of graffiti in ancient Greece is truly astounding. In the famous city of Pompeii in Magna Graecia, 37 per cent of the graffiti that has been discovered there so far consists primarily of name tags.
This suggests that the majority of people of that time had a real desire to leave their mark and be remembered. Does that sound familiar? It does, as it is common practice even today, especially amongst younger people, to leave their mark in places they visit or frequent a lot.
Greetings, humorous messages, and even obscenities are also very common among the findings that archaeologists have come across, as are quotes from famous literary works. This is a great example that showcases the wit and learning of the graffiti writers of ancient Greece. Additionally, drawings of people, animals, and even gladiators reveal the artistic aspect of the interests of the time.
Meanwhile, numbers, dates, and prices scratched into walls provide us with useful clues about the trading situation and commerce, as well as the daily transactions of the people of the time. In many ways, one could argue that ancient graffiti served a similar function to modern social media.
It allowed people to communicate in an alternative and more interesting way, express themselves, share their thoughts, and engage with others in a public forum. However, the spontaneous and personal nature of graffiti clearly sets it apart from the more formal and filtered stone inscriptions of the era.
Some specific examples of ancient Greek graffiti discovered in recent times include one found in the ancient Greek city of Smyrna (modern-day Izmir, Turkey). Approximately twenty years ago, archaeologists there discovered a fascinating word square that was originally scratched into the walls of a Roman basilica basement. This was completed after an earthquake in 177 AD.
It is the earliest known example that has been discovered so far of a word square in the Greek language. The particular word square included five five-letter words that can be read the same horizontally and vertically, something like a 2D palindrome.
More examples of ancient graffiti
Another great example of recent discoveries of ancient Greek graffiti includes the walls of the ancient Greek city of Aphrodisias in modern-day Turkey. The city, which was named after Aphrodite, the goddess of love, is quite literally covered in graffiti, offering us great insight into the world of ancient Greek graffiti and its role in the everyday life of the people.
The graffiti that has been unearthed there includes drawings, inscriptions, and carvings that depict daily life in the city.
Another great example is the ancient North Arabian graffiti written in Greek. This was found in the wounded archaeological site of Palmyra in Syria. This graffiti states: “This is an inscription that I wrote with my own hand. My hand will wear out but the inscription will remain.” This fascinating discovery shows that some ancient graffiti writers hoped their marks would outlast them.
Popular trends of the time, such as writing one’s name backwards or engaging with games like crafting clever riddles, can be seen by archaeological evidence in communities throughout ancient Greece via graffiti. The humor, wordplay, positive messages, and even insults scratched into walls reveal a much less refined and more unfiltered version of the wit and competitive spirit of the ancient Greeks.
At the same time, the prevalence of themes that are mainly erotic, including sexual messages, hints at a more permissive attitude towards public expressions of sexuality via graffiti in ancient Greece compared to what we are used to today.
The sheer volume of graffiti also suggests another interesting aspect that not many people have thought of before: Literacy in ancient Greece must have been more widespread than previously thought. Graffiti obviously provides us with evidence that people from all walks of life participated in this informal written culture.
Additionally, the back-and-forth nature of some graffiti exchanges of the time also shows us the conversations and social interactions of the time, revealing the thoughts and expressions of people living in an era long before the development of social media.
Recent attempts to reveal this form of expression
In recent decades, the study and preservation of ancient graffiti has become an increasingly popular as well as important area of research for scholars interested in social history.
Projects such as the Ancient Graffiti Project have the aim of thoroughly digitally documenting and analyzing the thousands of inscriptions found at sites such as Pompeii and Herculaneum. There, over 11,000 examples have been recorded so far. This project is a digital resource as well as a search engine for locating and studying graffiti from the late Hellenistic period and the early Roman Empire, particularly from the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
Additionally, new technologies, such as reflectance transformation imaging, are being utilized by researchers to reveal faint scratches that were previously invisible to the naked eye and therefore completely ignored. These experts also map the locations of graffiti providing us with important insights into how it was used in various social spaces in these ancient communities.
Collaborative efforts to translate and interpret the messages hidden behind the graffiti are also providing us with valuable new information by shedding light on their meanings.
In conclusion, we could argue that graffiti in ancient Greece and Rome is a fascinating way of obtaining a view from a more intimate window into the lives of ordinary people in the ancient world. By allowing us to see the Greeks and the Romans as much more real and relatable individuals with their own thoughts, feelings, and senses of humor similar to ours, these inscriptions become a real tool in helping us better the ancients.
