Graffiti In Antiquity
By Charlie Whittle, Arts Editor, Third Year Classical Studies
Often, when people think about graffiti, they imagine tags littering the walls of abandoned buildings or the side of the road; It reminds people of youth, rebellion and desecration. Graffiti in the average town has little to no meaning with the odd masterpiece that the local council deems worthy. Yet, to the creator, even adding a name on a wall is special. One might expect that graffiti throughout antiquity would follow this same ideology: stupid and useless to our exploration of history. However, graffiti in antiquity highlights more about the period than we know.
Pompeii and the discovery of ancient graffiti
It was the excavation of Pompeii that first highlighted the significance of graffiti in ancient history. Here was a city frozen in time by the explosion of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE that led to the whole city being preserved in ash. This included walls scratched with drawings and writing; there is no doubt that Pompeii and The Herculaneum (another site caught in the explosion of Mount Vesuvius) are our most prominent sources of graffiti in antiquity. Through exploration of these sites, historians began to realise that ancient graffiti was not only drawings or stating one's existence (although these were prominent throughout cities) but a way of communication. Looking at the graffiti allowed for a reflection of how people thousands of years ago used their space and interacted.
In antiquity, graffiti could be used for everyday records such as listing the food and the price that someone paid. This not only gives historians an idea of the economic situation but also an idea of what is consumed by the average citizen. Graffiti such as this list of prices was often found in clusters, allowing for it to be analysed along with similar graffiti giving us a wider perception of everyday society.
Graffiti List of Food and Prices
Ancient Graffiti Project, 2019
However, it seems strange to just write the cost of items on a wall. It must first be noted that walls weren’t considered as untouchable as today, instead they almost acted as another form of paper in the Roman era. Therefore, writing the price of food on a wall could be a form of accounting with the additional benefit of verification from others in the city.
This shows an evolution in contemporary graffiti; it is now considered an art. In the modern era, writing shopping on a wall could be considered modern art yet, the commonality of this in Pompeii and The Herculaneum implies it was average behaviour. This shows an important evolution of not only graffiti but space, as what is written publicly needs to have identification or meaning and walls almost seem reverent.
Religious Graffiti
Compared to the everyday use of graffiti in Pompeii, ancient graffiti found around Egypt often has a more religious meaning, showing graffiti as a form of communication with Egyptian deities. The graffiti has been found in temples, tombs and in more rural areas such as the sides of mountains and roads. In comparison with contemporary graffiti, using graffiti as a form of worship displays how differently graffiti is used throughout time.
The technology and research into Egyptian graffiti are only just starting to be explored with the use of 3D scanning technology. Using 3D scanning allows researchers to look at the graffiti dimensionally[1]. This allows for the actual etching of the graffiti to be considered. Additionally, 3D scanning allows for both the interior and the exterior of the building which creates greater consideration of the graffiti in the context of the building or landscape.
From what has been shared, the Ancient Egyptian graffiti has a common theme of prayer, whether that be written prayer or images of the gods. The religious graffiti in Egypt displays the variety of forms that worship took in antiquity and shares the voices of everyday people. This is particularly interesting, as it was less common for everyday people to worship at temples at the beginning of the dynasties of Egypt (beginning around 3500 BCE)[2]. This suggests that graffiti could be a way to express devotion more permanently in a rare visit to the temple. However, it is difficult to look into the wide array of graffiti in Egypt as the research into it is minimal at the current period.
What does this show us about graffiti in antiquity?
Through looking at evidence of graffiti in antiquity, it is clear we still have much to learn. However, the use of graffiti throughout history has changed significantly. The change from walls being treated like the side of a notebook or scrap paper in antiquity is quite literally a thing of the past and due to the evolution of art and private property, graffiti has taken on a manner of urban culture and rebellion. Although crude remarks and drawings still existed in antiquity, graffiti could take a more mundane or more reverent form depending on the intent of the creator. Graffiti was a part of everyday life, an insight into how people interacted with their environment.
[1] (Cowie 2023).
[2] (Britannica 2024).