GoKawiil2017 roundup revives translated graffiti from Pompeii and Herculaneum taverns and brothels
A 2017 compilation gathers translated graffiti scrawled on walls in Pompeii and Herculaneum, including inscriptions from taverns, brothels and gladiator barracks. The texts range from sexual boasts and insults to greetings between lovers and friends, plus warnings against public defecation.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
These inscriptions offer historians informal, first-person evidence of everyday Roman speech and social life that formal literature rarely preserves. The casual, often crude tone suggests graffiti functioned similarly to modern bathroom or wall scribbles, humanizing ancient Romans for contemporary readers.
- Graffiti was found in commercial and residential sites across Pompeii and Herculaneum, including bars and barracks.
- Content spans sexual boasting, insults, romantic greetings, and complaints about public defecation.
- The material gives informal linguistic and social evidence absent from formal Roman texts.
Source: kashgar.com.au, 2026-10-13
Published there as: “The Bawdy Graffiti of Pompeii and Herculaneum (2017)”
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