Episode 69: Virgil Was Here

Ask a Medievalist

Synopsis

What got written illicitly on the walls back before 79 CE? It turns out a lot of stuff! Join Em and Jesse as they discuss the graffiti of Pompeii and also stuff Vikings wrote their names on.

Em’s book: Amazon, all other sites.

Notes

Books!

Ancient Graffiti in Context ed. Baird and Taylor: https://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Graffiti-Context-Routledge-Studies-ebook/dp/B004OBZWDG

Medieval Graffiti: The Lost Voices of England’s Churches by Matthew Champion
https://www.amazon.com/Medieval-Graffiti-Voices-Englands-Churches/dp/009196041X

Graffiti in Antiquity by Peter Keegan https://www.amazon.com/Graffiti-Antiquity-Peter-Keegan-ebook/dp/B09M62F91Y

SPQR by Mary Beard
https://www.amazon.com/SPQR-History-Ancient-Mary-Beard/dp/1631492225

Pompeii by Mary Beard
https://www.amazon.com/Pompeii-Life-Roman-Mary-Beard/dp/1846684714

NOTES

1/ Shout out to the Straat Museum in Amsterdam, which is an amazing Street Art Museum.
https://straatmuseum.com/en

Museum of the City of New York’s “City as Canvas” exhibit: https://www.mcny.org/cityascanvas

2/ The Outlaws: it’s super funny and on prime. Check it out.

Some articles on Banksy’s getting painted over: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/nov/12/banksy-artwork-deliberately-destroyed-by-christopher-walken-in-bbc-comedy-show-finale

Stephen Merchant explains the Banksy scene: https://www.tvinsider.com/1036548/the-outlaws-season-1-stephen-merchant-prime-video-banksy/

3/ Artists’ warehouse story: The 21 graffiti artists from the 5Pointz building in Queens will receive $6.75 million in damages from developer G&M Realty for the 45 murals G&M destroyed in 2013.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/06/nyregion/graffiti-artists-5pointz.html

4/ French petroglyphs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lascaux
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/france-chauvet-cave-makes-grand-debut-180954582/

5/ Wall art/street art in Richmond, VA (known as RVA):
Ghost signs: https://rvaghostsigns-blog.tumblr.com
RVA Street Art Festival: https://www.rvastreetart.com/2022-festival
RVA Mural Walks: https://wouldilietoyoumuralwalks.com
Google “RVA Street art” for some more great examples!

6/ Beatles’ song: “If I Needed Someone” (lyric: “Carve your number on my wall/and maybe you will get a call from me…”

7/ Life of Brian: Romani ite domum. (Although the movie says the locative is correct, they actually use the accusative, which is, in fact, correct.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIAdHEwiAy8
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romani_ite_domum

8/ My children also draw on walls.

9/ See above for Beard’s books.

Pompeii graffiti: https://web.archive.org/web/20131001070703/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/10336768/What-can-we-learn-from-Roman-graffiti.html

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/reading-the-writing-on-pompeiis-walls-1969367/

Bawdy graffiti: https://kashgar.com.au/blogs/history/the-bawdy-graffiti-of-pompeii-and-herculaneu

10/ Fullers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulling

11/ Ostraca: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostracon (ostracon is singular; ostraca is plural)

12/ See above for Keegan’s book.

13/ Mills, Mary Beth. “Attack of the Widow Ghosts: Gender, Death, and Modernity in Northeast Thailand.” Bewitching Women, Pious Men: Gender and Body Politics in Southeast Asia. Aihwa Ong and Michael G. Peletz, eds. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995: 244-273.

14/ Episodes on obscenity: 65 and 66

15/ We talked about the innkeeper adulterating their beer in episode 8 (note 26) and episode 27.

16/ The Alexamenos Worships His God graffito: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexamenos_graffito

17/ If you are interested in medieval church graffiti, check out the Norfolk Medieval Graffiti Survey: http://www.medieval-graffiti.co.uk/

18/ Hexafoil: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexafoil

19/ Orkney Islands article: http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/maeshowe/maeshrunes.htm

20/ Viking graffiti at the Hagia Sophia:
https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/expeditions-and-raids/viking-graffiti/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varangian_Guard
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runic_inscriptions_in_Hagia_Sophia

21/ “Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board.” It’s from Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.