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These 30 Quotes From Ancient Pompeii Graffiti Prove Just How Little We Changed Over 2000 Years
If you thought that modern-day teenagers invented graffiti and inappropriate depictions of private male parts on walls - think again. Just recently, archaeologists found a 1,800-year-old drawing of penis near Hadrian's Wall which proved once again that some things just never change. Asides from these cheeky drawings, scholars are documenting ancient graffiti and writings on the walls. They began making copies of Latin inscriptions throughout the ancient Roman world, including Pompeii, in the late 1800s. Sadly, today, more than 90 percent of Pompeii's graffiti has been lost due to exposure to the elements. However, thanks to the 19th century scholars and translators, we have a beautiful list of funny, cheeky and bold wall inscriptions dating back to 2,000 years ago.
More info: Pompeiana
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#1
Weep, you girls. My penis has given you up. Now it penetrates men’s behinds. Goodbye, wondrous femininity!
Final score:
79points
RELATED:
#2
If anyone does not believe in Venus, they should gaze at my girl friend
Final score:
70points
#3
On April 19th, I made bread
#4
Theophilus, don’t perform oral sex on girls against the city wall like a dog
Final score:
51points
#5
Vibius Restitutus slept here alone and missed his darling Urbana
Final score:
49points
#6
A small problem gets larger if you ignore it.
Final score:
48points
#7
To the one defecating here. Beware of the curse. If you look down on this curse, may you have an angry Jupiter for an enemy.
Final score:
45points
#8
O walls, you have held up so much tedious graffiti that I am amazed that you have not already collapsed in ruin.
Final score:
45points
R.s. Potter 6 years ago
"Oh Brother-in-law, why did you give that awful double flute toy to my baby!? What have I ever done to hurt you?"
#9
Chie, I hope your hemorrhoids rub together so much that they hurt worse than when they every have before!
Final score:
44points
#10
I don’t want to sell my husband, not for all the gold in the world
Final score:
43points
#11
We two dear men, friends forever, were here. If you want to know our names, they are Gaius and Aulus.
Final score:
43points
#12
A copper pot went missing from my shop. Anyone who returns it to me will be given 65 bronze coins (sestertii). 20 more will be given for information leading to the capture of the thief.
Final score:
38points
#13
I screwed a lot of girls here.
#14
(Below a drawing of a man with a large nose) Amplicatus, I know that Icarus is buggering you. Salvius wrote this.
Final score:
34points
#15
Celadus the Thracian gladiator is the delight of all the girls
Final score:
33points
#16
The man I am having dinner with is a barbarian.
#17
Epaphra, you are bald!
Final score:
30points
#18
Defecator, may everything turn out okay so that you can leave this place.
Final score:
28points
#20
Apollinaris, the doctor of the emperor Titus, defecated well here
Final score:
28points
#22
Secundus defecated here three times on one wall.
Final score:
26points
#25
Aufidius was here. Goodbye.
Final score:
22points
#27
Virgula to her friend Tertius: you are disgusting!
Final score:
21points
#28
Stronius Stronnius knows nothing!
Final score:
20points
#30
Whoever wants to serve themselves can go on an drink from the sea.
Final score:
18points
What do you think ?
Kim Lee 6 years ago
Some of these were left by grown women and men. I encourage you to look for a few articles and videos that dive a little deeper into the original Latin and how they traced a few of these back to actual people (with more info on those people). I felt the same way a few years ago until I did a deep-dive myself. These articles here are never meant to inform, just to gather likes and comments.
Pretty Pangolin 6 years ago
A graffiti from England: "My mother made me a homosexual" and written underneath "If I get her the wool (yarn) will she make me one too?"
Jilltdcatlady 6 years ago
I HAVE to ask... Is this really real? Because I can help but smell a troll. Because if ... If those who made the images... And then added captions... And that's their real translations.... Well... that means MEMES were invented ovER 2000 YEARS AGO! AND THAT MEANS POMPEII WAS THE ORIGINAL SOURCE FOR MILLENIALS!!!
Neringa (Post author) 6 years ago
They're as real as they can get! You can read the whole NSFW list here - http://www.pompeiana.org/Resources/Ancient/Graffiti%20from%20Pompeii.htm
Beatrice Alighieri 6 years ago
@Neringa, Thank you for the post. I'd love to see the original quotes in Latin (I'm trying to learn it for Roman Law).
Monika Soffronow 6 years ago
There is a poem from ancient Egypt that was written some 5.000 years ago in which someone complains about the lazy and irresponsible youth that are more keen on having a good time than anything else. Technology has not changed us, it has changed the ways we communicate and has speeded it up.
Ohio Hands 6 years ago
For one of the wealthiest and most powerful empires of its time, people sure did s**t wherever they damn well pleased.
Agnes Jekyll 6 years ago
and the cities were filthy and malarial. Really, dying young was not hard.
Beowulf Norther 1 year ago (edited)
..not at all? They literally had plumbing, aqueducts (which pre date them going back to babylon, restrooms, and lived til their 70s and 80s. War and disease was and is always a factor, but youre conflating it with the middle ages, over a thousand years later..where they all s**t in the rivers, and bathing was sinful, danes bathing once a week was seen as crazy. Romans were mind bogglingly advanced, clean and intelligent, not cavemen, and honestly their views towards sex and s**t were vastly more mature than most of the southern US. They had more modern trappings, art, culture and society that wouldnt really be replicated for 1800 years in the west, with obviously Constantinople and China excluded.
Wanda Queen 6 years ago
Everyone seems shocked by all the poop graffiti.....remember it was graffiti not ancient lit. ;)
Silvia Rojas 6 years ago
Where are the inscriptions? I would like to see them... it's difficult to believe what you show here without proves.
Agnes Jekyll 6 years ago
Watch Mary Beard--she reads Latin fluently, and there's a whole series where she goes around reading all the tomb engravings.
Kenny Kulbiski 6 years ago
Could the citizens counsel please do something about all these annoying ashes?
Marnee DeRider 6 years ago
I read in grade school that the following was found on a wall in Pompeii: "Everyone writes on the walls except me". That was when I realized that modern humans did NOT start when TV was invented, as I had previously thought.
Kim Lee 6 years ago
Some of these were left by grown women and men. I encourage you to look for a few articles and videos that dive a little deeper into the original Latin and how they traced a few of these back to actual people (with more info on those people). I felt the same way a few years ago until I did a deep-dive myself. These articles here are never meant to inform, just to gather likes and comments.
Pretty Pangolin 6 years ago
A graffiti from England: "My mother made me a homosexual" and written underneath "If I get her the wool (yarn) will she make me one too?"
Jilltdcatlady 6 years ago
I HAVE to ask... Is this really real? Because I can help but smell a troll. Because if ... If those who made the images... And then added captions... And that's their real translations.... Well... that means MEMES were invented ovER 2000 YEARS AGO! AND THAT MEANS POMPEII WAS THE ORIGINAL SOURCE FOR MILLENIALS!!!
Neringa (Post author) 6 years ago
They're as real as they can get! You can read the whole NSFW list here - http://www.pompeiana.org/Resources/Ancient/Graffiti%20from%20Pompeii.htm
Beatrice Alighieri 6 years ago
@Neringa, Thank you for the post. I'd love to see the original quotes in Latin (I'm trying to learn it for Roman Law).
Monika Soffronow 6 years ago
There is a poem from ancient Egypt that was written some 5.000 years ago in which someone complains about the lazy and irresponsible youth that are more keen on having a good time than anything else. Technology has not changed us, it has changed the ways we communicate and has speeded it up.
Ohio Hands 6 years ago
For one of the wealthiest and most powerful empires of its time, people sure did s**t wherever they damn well pleased.
Agnes Jekyll 6 years ago
and the cities were filthy and malarial. Really, dying young was not hard.
Beowulf Norther 1 year ago (edited)
..not at all? They literally had plumbing, aqueducts (which pre date them going back to babylon, restrooms, and lived til their 70s and 80s. War and disease was and is always a factor, but youre conflating it with the middle ages, over a thousand years later..where they all s**t in the rivers, and bathing was sinful, danes bathing once a week was seen as crazy. Romans were mind bogglingly advanced, clean and intelligent, not cavemen, and honestly their views towards sex and s**t were vastly more mature than most of the southern US. They had more modern trappings, art, culture and society that wouldnt really be replicated for 1800 years in the west, with obviously Constantinople and China excluded.
Wanda Queen 6 years ago
Everyone seems shocked by all the poop graffiti.....remember it was graffiti not ancient lit. ;)
Silvia Rojas 6 years ago
Where are the inscriptions? I would like to see them... it's difficult to believe what you show here without proves.
Agnes Jekyll 6 years ago
Watch Mary Beard--she reads Latin fluently, and there's a whole series where she goes around reading all the tomb engravings.
Kenny Kulbiski 6 years ago
Could the citizens counsel please do something about all these annoying ashes?
Marnee DeRider 6 years ago
I read in grade school that the following was found on a wall in Pompeii: "Everyone writes on the walls except me". That was when I realized that modern humans did NOT start when TV was invented, as I had previously thought.
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