# Graffiti at Pompeii **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 26, 2013, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti-at-pompeii/654000 "2013-03-26T12:56:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti-at-pompeii/654000/1 "2013-03-26T12:56:12Z")
Here are some [examples](http://www.pompeiana.org/resources/ancient/graffiti%20from%20pompeii.htm) of what was being written. What were people writing it with? I keep imagining Brian of Nazareth walking around nonchalantly with a bucket of red paint keeping one eye out for the soldiers. Some of the writings seem rather long, too. If they were carving this stuff into stone walls it seems like they’d have to be pretty dedicated. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti-at-pompeii/654000/2 "2013-03-26T13:13:25Z")
> [@The Great Sun Jester](#): > > Here are some [examples](http://www.pompeiana.org/resources/ancient/graffiti%20from%20pompeii.htm) of what was being written. > > What were people writing it with? I keep imagining Brian of Nazareth walking around nonchalantly with a bucket of red paint keeping one eye out for the soldiers. Some of the writings seem rather long, too. If they were carving this stuff into stone walls it seems like they’d have to be pretty dedicated. A google image search suggests some of it is painted with a brush, some of it is just scratched into stone or plaster. Limestone is pretty soft and can be marked with anything reasonably hard and pointed - a piece of broken pot, a seashell fragment, an iron nail, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti-at-pompeii/654000/3 "2013-03-26T14:22:01Z")
Red paint, mostly. What’s worse is all the modern grafitti all over Pompeii. Dispicable! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti-at-pompeii/654000/4 "2013-03-26T14:37:51Z")
People have been scratching messages and drawings into anything that will scratch since the dawn of Man. The Romans were no different. A handy knife, pot of ink, the barmaid’s hair ornament…whatever was at hand. The more formal messages were likely painted there with some forethought. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti-at-pompeii/654000/5 "2013-03-26T14:55:03Z")
Had I been compiling that list there is no way I’d have been able to resist sneaking in “Romanes eunt Domus” In fact, having actually visited Pompeii I’m shocked that I resisted painting it on a wall myself (in biodegradable red paint of course, I’m not a philistine) ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti-at-pompeii/654000/6 "2013-03-26T17:08:13Z")
“Romanes eunt Domus”? People called the Romans they go the house? What’s that say? ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti-at-pompeii/654000/7 "2013-03-26T17:19:31Z")
> [@The Great Sun Jester](#): > > “Romanes eunt Domus”? People called the Romans they go the house? > What’s that say? “Romans go home!”…No, no, no I’m stopping it right there. It’ll just get silly. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti-at-pompeii/654000/8 "2013-03-26T17:29:45Z")
Oddly, this is solid evidence that the ancient hoi polloi were somewhat literate. Oh to be sure, by today’s standards they’d be considered to be “functionally illiterate” but the graffiti proves that even the lowest classes could at least read & write “Brutus Sucks it”. By the way, “Romans go home” would be “‘Romani, ite domi’, except in _Life of Brian,_ of course. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti-at-pompeii/654000/9 "2013-03-26T17:48:05Z")
There are entire books published that presrerve the grafitti of the ancient Roman Empire, with Pompeii being a rich source, as it was so suddenly preserved. One piece supposedly says “Wall, I wonder that uou do not fall from the weight of all this writing.” ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti-at-pompeii/654000/10 "2013-03-26T17:54:57Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > …“Wall, I wonder that uou do not fall from the weight of all this writing.” I wonder this about the SDMB at times. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti-at-pompeii/654000/11 "2013-03-26T19:29:49Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > ‘Romani, ite domi’ My guts tell me “Domi” means multiple places, and “Domum” refers to a single place. In the case of Brian’s message, use of “Domum” would be more like instructing the Romans to return to their homeland as opposed to their respective domiciles. But I’ll grant my Latin is rudimentary at best. I probably know just enough to get myself crucified. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti-at-pompeii/654000/12 "2013-03-26T20:45:12Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > Had I been compiling that list there is no way I’d have been able to resist sneaking in > “Romanes eunt Domus”…“Romans go home!” If I’m not mistaken, this is a declarative sentence meaning “the Romans go home” or “the Romans are going home.” > [@DrDeth](#): > > By the way, “Romans go home” would be “Romani, ite domi"… And this would be an imperative sentence (command) meaning “Romans, go home!” > [@The Great Sun Jester](#): > > My guts tell me “Domi” means multiple places, and “Domum” refers to a single place. As to whether it should be “Romanes” or “Romani,” and “domus”, “domi,” or “domum,” I’m not sure. I would lean towards “Romani” and “(ad) domum.” ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti-at-pompeii/654000/13 "2013-03-26T21:11:28Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > There are entire books published that presrerve the grafitti of the ancient Roman Empire, with Pompeii being a rich source, as it was so suddenly preserved. One piece supposedly says “Wall, I wonder that uou do not fall from the weight of all this writing.” That’s in the linked list. > [@](#): > > VIII.2 (in the basilica); 1904: O walls, you have held up so much tedious graffiti that I am amazed that you have not already collapsed in ruin. ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti-at-pompeii/654000/14 "2013-03-27T04:10:22Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > Red paint, mostly. What’s worse is all the modern grafitti all over Pompeii. Dispicable! \ I believe you meant ‘despicable’. (and, it’s gra **ff** iti, not grafi **tt** i 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti-at-pompeii/654000/15 "2013-03-27T07:36:36Z")
> [@JBDivmstr](#): > > \ I believe you meant ‘despicable’. (and, it’s gra **ff** iti, not grafi **tt** i 😉 Perhaps his exemplar was [Daffy Duck.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq8F8PeDBOU&feature=youtube_gdata_player) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti-at-pompeii/654000/16 "2013-04-02T04:57:19Z")
> [@The Great Sun Jester](#): > > My guts tell me “Domi” means multiple places, and “Domum” refers to a single place. In the case of Brian’s message, use of “Domum” would be more like instructing the Romans to return to their homeland as opposed to their respective domiciles. But I’ll grant my Latin is rudimentary at best. I probably know just enough to get myself crucified. Domī is the locative form, meaning ‘at home’. To express ‘toward home’ you use the accusative ‘domum’ without preposition. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingScotsman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@FlyingScotsman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingScotsman)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti-at-pompeii/654000/17 "2013-04-02T05:12:45Z")
The juvenile mystery novel “Detectives In Togas” by Henry Winterfeld, still in print decades after its first translation from the original German in 1956, is based entirely upon the supposedly real-life graffito uncovered at Pompeii in 1936: CAIUS ASINUS EST, or “Caius Is An Ass/Dumbbell”. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti-at-pompeii/654000/18 "2013-04-02T07:14:52Z")
One of the Roman Mysteries stories featured a puzzle that involved graffiti in Pompeii. It irritated the crap out of me because the solution arrived at by Latin-speaking characters required misunderstanding Latin.