SEX? IN THE CITY - IMAGES OF SEXUALITY IN ROMAN DOMESTIC SPACE
Graffiti from Pompeii |
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Si quis non vidi(t) Venerem ...pupa(m) mea(m) aspiciat talis et c... If anyone has not seen Venus... he should gaze and my girlfriend
SECUNDUS/PRIMA(A) SUAE UBI/QUE ISSE SALUTE(M)/ROGO DOMINA/UT ME AMES Secundus sayd hello to his Prima wherever she is. I ask my mistress that you love me
Quis(quis) amat valeat, pereat qui nescit amare. Bis tanto pereat quisquis amare vetat. Whoever loves, let him flourish. Let him perish who knows not love. Let him perish twice over whoever forbids love.
Graffiti from Pompeii |
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There are more than 11,000 graffiti surviving in Pompeii. The walls of the buildings are covered in stucco so anyone with a sharp instument would have found it easy to incise words and pictures into the plaster. Because it is much easier to carve a vertical line into the grain of the plaster the horizontal strokes of some letters were turned into vertical strokes: the letter E for example. The predominant graffiti in Pompeii are words, written in various types of script, as opposed to pictures. Two of the inscriptions below are written in the infomral script which we now call cursive. This script was used for everyday transactions and was in fact the style most Romans used in their daily lives. It was less wll known to us today because the materials on which it was written were of a less enduring nature, and considered of little artisitc value. The graffiti represents the voice of the people, and create a lens through which ancient Roman society can be viewed. Two-thirds of Pompeii has been excavated but exposure to sunlight, rain, vegetation and tourists causes the continusous deterioration of the buildingd and loss of the graffiti. The ancient houses of Pompeii faced inward leaving a blank facade facing the street. These facades provided and ample space for garffiti. The walls served as huge message boards, engaging people in the interactive writing process. In passing, poeple would read messages and write responses. Secundus, for example, whose inscription of love is shown here, was answered by his Prima, who lived at the opposite end of the same city block.
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