Written Space in the Latin West, 200 BC to AD 300 (original) (raw)
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Graffiti as Monumenta and Verba: marking territories, creating discourse in Roman Pompeii
This chapter explores the creation of localized, elite and non-elite discourses within shared epigraphic spaces — specifically, the accretion of non-official graffiti within the urban fabric of ancient Pompeii between circa 120 BCE and 79 CE. The shift from an-epigraphic cultures to epigraphic cultures is not simply a matter of commissioning the carving of an inscription or scratching graffiti: it also demonstrates new mentalities regarding the use of language, the relationship between local elites and the rest of the population and between local elites and the imperial power. The creation and replication of written spaces also marks a radical departure for some pre-Roman communities in the West and a new medium for the expression of local statuses and identities. As importantly, graffiti inscriptions record communications in informal contexts using vernacular media, offering the possibility of writing history about people living in the cities of these times which does not depend solely on the views of the cultural elites surviving in the European manuscript tradition and in formal epigraphic contexts. By the same token, examining the words and images inscribed on an ancient city’s monumental fabric — its walls, doorposts, pillars, tombs, and so on — provides a means of assessing the manner by which and the degree to which ordinary men and women absorbed and exchanged culture and language through inscribed speech-acts under Roman rule. In consequence this essay examines the different trajectories of the creation and replication of discursive environments in a variety of locations within the urban fabric of Pompeii. KEY WORDS graffiti, non-official discourse, cultural space, Pompeii
Chapter 11, Inscriptions in the Private Sphere in the Greco-Roman World (Brill, forthcoming 2015)
This paper explores the creation of localized, elite and non-elite discourses within shared epigraphic spaces – specifically, the accretion of non-official graffiti within the urban fabric of ancient Pompeii between circa 120 BC and AD 79. The shift from an-epigraphic cultures to epigraphic cultures is not simply a matter of commissioning the carving of an inscription or scratching graffiti: it also demonstrates new mentalities regarding the use of language, the relationship between local elites and the rest of the population and between local elites and the imperial power. The creation and replication of written spaces also marks a radical departure for some pre-Roman communities in the West and a new medium for the expression of local statuses and identities. As importantly, graffiti inscriptions record communications in informal contexts using vernacular media, offering the possibility of writing history about people living in the cities of these times which does not depend solely on the views of the cultural elites surviving in the European manuscript tradition and in formal epigraphic contexts. By the same token, examining the words and images inscribed on an ancient city’s monumental fabric – its walls, doorposts, pillars, tombs, and so on – provides a means of assessing the manner by which and the degree to which ordinary men and women absorbed and exchanged culture and language through inscribed speech-acts under Roman rule. In consequence this paper examines the different trajectories of the creation and replication of discursive environments in a variety of locations within the urban fabric of Pompeii.
Blogging Rome. Graffiti as Speech-Act and Cultural Discourse
Chapter 9, Ancient Graffiti in Context (Routledge, 2010) 165-190
Of the significant contributions made by studies of ancient inscribed texts and images, few have dealt with cultural questions about literacy, orality and memory in the ancient Mediterranean. This is especially true in relation to graffiti-texts and images. To highlight the importance of epigraphic research in identifying modes of meaning-production and consumption within an oral-literate culture, this paper will test the claim that inscribed cursive and figural graffiti in Italy under Roman rule can serve as a suitable category of evidence. Specifically, by situating the need for men and women living in the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum to define their personal and collective identities through graffiti and dipinti, this project will highlight the variety of social-cultural relationships among meaning-producers and consumers in republican and imperial Roman Italy. As these inscriptions record communications in informal contexts using vernacular media, they offer the possibility of writing history about people living in the cities of these times that does not depend solely on the views of the cultural elites surviving in the European manuscript tradition and in formal epigraphic contexts. By the same token, examining the words and images inscribed on ancient Italian city walls, doorposts, pillars, tombs, and so on, provides a means of assessing the manner by which and the degree to which ordinary men and women absorbed and exchanged culture and language through inscribed speech-acts under Roman rule.
Reading Epigraphic Culture, Writing Funerary Space in the Roman City
Chapter 3, Written Space in the Latin West, 200 BC to AD 300 (Bloomsbury Publishing) 49-64, 2013
The presence of inscriptions in funerary contexts tests the boundaries of our understanding of what it meant to be a part of an oral-literate society and a participating member of a pervasive epigraphic culture. To appreciate the significance underpinning this juxtaposition of social and cultural issues, we should consider the implications of a single question: Who made these inscriptions? Determining ‘who’ calls for the inquirer to examine how possible it was for any member of the ancient population to formulate – articulate, produce, and transmit – a written message within the extra-mural spaces of Rome’s funerary environment. The extent to which inscriptions seem to address interpretative issues of concern to the composer, the ancient society, and the modern researcher – for instance, the manner and subject of public commemoration – is a necessary addendum to the questions of literacy, epigraphic technique, and the sociolinguistic system in Classical antiquity. This finding must also address how accessible the location chosen was for any individual, and the degree of significance which that person attached to the context of memorialization. These points of inquiry lead the investigator to a discussion of modes of social mobility, kinds and numbers of intended audiences, and the thought processes, values, and beliefs shared by members of different communities under Roman rule.
APOTROPAIC GRAFFITI AND MATERIALITY: A POST-COLONIAL PERSPECTIVE ON WRITTEN SPACES
Building on post-colonial archaeological studies and earlier reflections on apotropaic graffiti by one of the authors, we shall now discuss the value of this corpus of graffiti as evidence for a gender approach of Roman daily life. The aim of this paper changed considering the former one to an approach which emphasises the role of graffiti and the urban written spaces in rethinking Roman identity during the Early Principate. We shall argue that such written-on spaces, when analysed in their material context, can be taken as evidence in the discussion of social conflicts, identity and diversity in Roman society. They also enable a more balanced approach to the Roman Empire by taking into consideration the worldviews of people of humble origins.
Talking City: Voices of Hidden History in the Architecture and Urban Places of Rome
disseminate | analyse | understand graffiti-scapes, 2024
Our cities today represent a complex intersection of material and immaterial culture, which can be described and promoted through possible heritage itineraries. Among the various topics of these itineraries, a topic of great interest for us is the writings traced throughout history on the wall surfaces of the city’s buildings to convey messages and opinions for the most diverse purposes. Their value is not only in the quality of the single artefact but also because they can serve as unique keys to understanding the society that produced them in depth, i.e., to comprehend the culture, customs, and ways of communication of a specific historical period. From this point of view, the inscriptions produced by the ruling classes, the secular and religious power are less exciting than those traced by single or common people. Therefore, these traces of the past are a fundamental historical resource since the people’s voice resides in them; they are an intangible heritage transmitted through the materiality of the supports and architectures on which they were traced or placed. Unfortunately, many of these inscriptions are hidden or barely visible within cities. Besides, their decoding is related to the type of handwriting, the engraving technique, and the content conveyed. Finally, in today’s society, there is a prevalent dominance of the image with clearly conveyed content, relegating these kinds of cultural products to an omitting background. The study presented in this paper, at an early stage of development, is developed within Rome, a city characterised by a complex and deep cultural stratification. The research aims to map some graffiti and ‘minor’ epigraphs (i.e., non-monumental or particularly solemn) and build narrative itineraries throughout the city, starting from a study of these particular traces within the architecture. By enhancing these historical sources through these routes, the architecture will become a narrative system capable of telling stories, giving voice to real-life stories and the immaterial culture condensed in those places, and rediscovering a stratified and hidden intangible heritage in the city.