| Category |
Description |
|---|---|
| Alphabet |
The beginning of the Greek alphabet. |
| Alphabet |
Part of the Greek alphabet. |
| Alphabet |
The Greek alphabet on lines 3 and 4. |
| Alphabet |
Part of the Greek alphabet? |
| Amphitheatre and circus |
A gladiator with arm outstretched. |
| Amphitheatre and circus |
Androm(achus) iii ca(lendas) Apr(iles) | Bal(erianus) iiii non(as) Mai(as). It has been suggested that this graffito is about gladiators. The dates are March 30 and May 4. |
| Amphitheatre and circus |
A gladiator.
|
| Amphitheatre and circus |
A quadriga.
|
| Amphitheatre and circus |
QV SECVNDA FORMOSA The first part seems to be about a beautiful girl, Secunda. For line 3 cf. Suetonius, Nero 22: prasinum agitatorem, a Green charioteer in the games at the circus. The factio prasina was the party of charioteers who dressed in green. The graffito brings to mind the paintings of charioteers in the building.
|
| Amphitheatre and circus |
According to the excavator "... two gladiators in combat, one of which fully armed with fasciae, manica, galea and a rectangular shield. Above the figure the name TAVRVS ..." Others suggest that the drawing is of a judge and a victorious gladiator (retiarius), and read above the drawing the inscription: GLAPHYRINVS / BAETICVS TAVR[VS] |
| Amphitheatre and circus |
A gladiator looking towards his left. |
| Animals |
Perhaps about the sale of pigs (porci). |
| Animals |
A ram's head. |
| Animals |
A snake with a comb on its head. |
| Animals |
An elephant showing 'criss-cross' markings, a technique frequently used with
drawings of animals. Several deer are drawn like this at Herculaneum, as is a
horse at Dura Europus. |
| Animals |
A horse's head.
|
| Animals |
A horse's head. |
| Animals |
|
| Animals |
A horse or cow? |
| Animals |
MII/\I VIS . OVIIS NATI About the birth of sheep? |
| Animals |
The head of an animal. |
| Commercial texts |
accepti (denarii) XXV K(alendis) Decenb(ribus) About money received on December 1st. |
| Commercial texts |
PANIIM A VIII About the purchase of bread and wood (or a wooden writing-tablet), paid with a(sses). |
| Commercial texts |
IIII BYTIRRI The graffito mentions butter, oil and grain (frume[ntum]). |
| Commercial texts |
DIINARIOS XXVII A text referring to money. Next to a drawing of a lizard. |
| Commercial texts |
* III * = denarii, A = asses. |
| Commercial texts |
PRIMODIII Apparently the registration of the payment of denarii on the first, second and third day. |
| Commercial texts |
COIIMIAXCFVDI RIVA Perhaps Coemi a(ssibus) XC, fudi riva[lem]: "I bought it for 90 asses, I beat my rival", referring to an auction. |
| Complex structures |
|
| Complex structures |
X I I I I I I I I I and lines. |
| Complex structures |
A map or a machine? |
| Complex structures |
A grid. |
| Complex structures |
A rectangular shape with (partly inscribed) lines. |
| Complex structures |
Lines. |
| Complex structures |
A map? The first photo is in reality also above the second one. The two photos partly overlap.
|
| Complex structures |
Profile of an object. The architrave of a temple or public building? |
| Complex structures |
Concentric circles and a few straight lines. |
| Complex structures |
A grid or gaming board. |
| Complex structures |
Drawing. |
| Complex structures |
A plan of two buildings? |
| Complex structures |
Lines. |
| Complex structures |
A structure looking like a millstone in a bakery. |
| Complex structures |
Long and short lines. |
| Complex structures |
A structure and perhaps a human figure. |
| Complex structures |
|
| Dates |
K VX IVNIVS | IVLIAS
|
| Dates |
III NONAS APRILIIS April 3rd. |
| Dates |
Tallymarks and dates (February 13, March 18).
N5261
(tallymarks, part of IDVS FEB) |
| Dates |
M CAVIO SQUILLA GALLICANO A consular date: 150 AD. |
| Dates |
XII K |
| Dates |
III K |
| Dates |
V K A . . . A |
| Dates |
XII K__L |
| Dates |
III K |
| Dates |
III N DIICIIMBRIIS December 3rd. |
| Dates |
II KAL MAR February 29. |
| Dates |
Imp(eratore) Antonino III August 6, 220 AD. |
| Dates |
V IDVS MARTIAS March 11. |
| Dates |
V K OCT VIINIT K = KAL. About the arrival of someone on September 28. |
| Dates |
VII ID IVN June 7th. |
| Dates |
VII Kal Commodas. Commodus had introduced a month called Commodus (August or perhaps September). After his death the original name was restored. Cf. CIL XIV, 2113 (Lavinium). |
| Dates |
All these graffiti represent dates: A. III NON(ae) IVLIVS i.e July 5 Overviews: Details ABCD | Details CDEF | Details GH
|
| Dates |
IV IDVS |
| Dates |
Many dates can be read (apparently January 18-26 and March 26 in the first column, February 11 in the second). The word centenarium refers to something consisting of or relating to one hundred, such as a pistrinum centenarium, a bakery for which a minimum investment was needed or which handled a minimum amount of grain. |
| Erotica |
[---]IANVARIA NUGAS ES About a frivolous girl, Ianuaria, and a lover. Lines 2, 4 and 5 were written in the right half of the graffito. |
| Erotica |
LVCILA FORMOSA About a beautiful girl, Lucilla. |
| Erotica |
Two graffiti, one on top of the other. Hic ad Callin[i]cum "Here I had oral and anal intercourse with my friend in the inn of Callinicus (or: with my sea-going friend Callinicus?). Do not ...". This graffito was written first. Callinicus was probably the owner (vilicus) of the building. Livius me cunus
|
| Erotica |
|
| Erotica |
According to the excavator: Cepholus et Musice duo conve | nientes. |
| Erotica | Ego memini quemda(m) crissasse puella(m), cuius cineres aurea terra tegat "I remember touching the buttocks of a certain girl, From a tomb. |
| Erotica |
A phallus. |
| Erotica |
M/\MIVS SALIVS About a beautiful man. Line 2 was written in the right half of the graffito. |
| Erotica |
CRVSEROS AMAS ADAMA "Chrysis, you love Chryseros, but he loves Apella. Many greetings from Iustus Ianuarius". Line 3 was written in the right half of the graffito. |
| Erotica |
A phallus and the text CVNNILINGVS. |
| Erotica |
COLONICV(S) Apparently about licking a c**t. Above an erotic drawing (phallus).
|
| Erotica |
PVPA V(ale) SAL(utem) "Darling (doll), hello, greetings!" |
| Erotica |
Hermadion cinaedus. "You are a faggot, Hermadion". |
| Erotica |
HICAMOR "Love lives here". |
| Famous buildings |
A temple, or public building. |
| Famous buildings - Lighthouse of Portus |
The lighthouse in Portus. |
| Famous buildings - Lighthouse of Portus |
The lighthouse in Portus, next to Trajan's column. The upper left part has recently disappeared.
|
| Famous buildings - Trajan's column |
A drawing of Trajan's column with the text: PVTE[olanus?] | H | HIERON PI | NXIT. "On the western wall of the porticoed corridor someone called Hieron, of Greek origin, has signed the oldest, perhaps unique, depiction of Trajan's Column in Rome, drawn with great care and precision. The Ostia lighthouse is drawn several times with varying degrees of success and, on the same wall, a careful hand has minutely drawn a kind of small board divided into squares, more or less like our modern game of chess" (R. Calza). The upper part has recently disappeared.
|
| Frames for writing |
IATVM in an unfinished tabula ansata (left ansa missing). The thickness of the letters and the position, on the bottom line and not in the centre, suggest that we read here the English name Tatum. The tabula ansata may be modern as well.
|
| Frames for writing |
A tabula ansata. |
| Frames for writing |
|
| Frames for writing |
Tabula ansata. |
| Games |
The 1 on a dice. The second in a row of three dice. |
| Games |
A gaming board? Modern? |
| Games |
The 4 on a dice. The third in a row of three dice. On the three dice the numbers are 6, 1 and 4, perhaps intended as the numerical palindrome VIIIV.
|
| Games |
The 6 on a dice. The first in a row three dice. |
| Games |
A gaming board. |
| Geometric and vegetative motifs |
|
| Geometric and vegetative motifs |
|
| Geometric and vegetative motifs |
A circle with inscribed lines. |
| Geometric and vegetative motifs |
|
| Geometric and vegetative motifs |
|
| Geometric and vegetative motifs |
|
| Geometric and vegetative motifs |
A drawing of metal decoration? |
| Geometric and vegetative motifs |
A few lines forming triangles. |
| Geometric and vegetative motifs |
A geometrical pattern. |
| Geometric and vegetative motifs |
A wheel? |
| Geometric and vegetative motifs |
A square with inscribed lines. |
| Geometric and vegetative motifs |
A wheel? |
| Geometric and vegetative motifs |
A wheel? |
| Geometric and vegetative motifs |
Lines looking like a plan. |
| Geometric and vegetative motifs |
Rectangle drawn over the head on a wall painting. |
| Geometric and vegetative motifs |
Three objects looking like a branch, a stick and a bracelet. |
| Geometric and vegetative motifs |
A cross in a circle. |
| Geometric and vegetative motifs |
Geometrical design. It looks as though a mistake has been made in this drawing, which as a result has not been completed. |
| Geometric and vegetative motifs |
A rectangle with inscribed lines, looking like a simple plan. |
| Geometric and vegetative motifs |
(palma) |
| Geometric and vegetative motifs |
|
| Geometric and vegetative motifs |
|
| Geometric and vegetative motifs |
A circle with inscribed lines. |
| Geometric and vegetative motifs |
Geometrical design. |
| Geometric and vegetative motifs | |
| Geometric and vegetative motifs |
Two helices, the one on the left vertical, the one on the right horizontal. |
| Geometric and vegetative motifs |
A circle with an inscribed cross. |
| Geometric and vegetative motifs |
Concentric circles, perhaps a rope coiled on the deck of a ship. |
| Geometric and vegetative motifs |
|
| Geometric and vegetative motifs |
Geometrical design. It looks as though this drawing has not been completed.
|
| Geometric and vegetative motifs |
A circle with an inscribed cross. |
| Geometric and vegetative motifs. |
Drawing. |
| Geometric and vegetative motifs. |
Geometrical design. |
| Human figures |
A name. Next to a drawing of a male head. |
| Human figures |
A human torso. |
| Human figures |
Perhaps the legs of a male figure. |
| Human figures |
A head or torso? |
| Human figures |
A human figure. |
| Human figures |
BVRDO The text accompanies a rough bust of a young man with bulla. |
| Human figures |
A human figure. |
| Human figures |
The headware being worn in this drawing seems identical to examples described by Langner (2001) at Aphrodisias, Pompeii and Delphi. One explanation of what is happening is that a tibia is being played. It may also be a modern custodian or archaeologist, smoking a cigar. |
| Human figures |
A human figure. |
| Human figures |
A male figure.
|
| Human figures |
A male, winged head. Perhaps a representation of a wind. |
| Human figures |
One of three heads found one above the other. |
| Human figures |
One of three heads found one above the other. |
| Human figures |
One of three heads found one above the other. |
| Human figures |
Head and shoulders, looking left. |
| Human figures |
A head looking towards his left. |
| Human figures |
Male head.
|
| Human figures |
A face? |
| Masters and slaves |
HICEGOMENAEMI "Here I bought (the slave) Menas". |
| Masters and slaves |
"Your mistress is far inferior to you". |
| Masters and slaves |
domesticus (or Domesticus?) grat[i]as aget dominu suo A slave thanks his master and wishes him well. |
| Medicine |
MIIDICAMI[---] About medicine and the plant lingua bubula (ox-tongue). Cato, De Re Rustica 40: "cover the whole with ox-tongue, so that if it rains the water will not soak into the bark". See also Pliny, Natural History, 17, 14, 24, par. 112. It has been used in history to induce courage, joy, merriment, exhilaration, and making "the mind glad". It was also ground up into a poultice, and used to treat bruises and abrasions. |
| Medicine |
A EHI COMITIALE VA Perhaps about epilepsy (morbus comitialis). |
| Mixed content |
|
| Mixed content |
Below a drawing of a bird. |
| Mixed content |
[Photo nr. - layer - description] 1 - Layer 33 left.....?
|
| Mixed content |
Left column, layer 27: the Greek alphabet.
|
| Mixed content |
AVE | RO(ma?) With drawings of a head of a donkey and a palm branch. |
| Mixed content |
|
| Mixed content |
"A slab bearing graffiti of an elephant, a web-footed horse, a four-legged beast with a mouse's snout, a helmeted soldier with shield and lance, a juggler, a boat with an oar". |
| Mixed content |
"Dates and accounts and notes drawn with many parallel lines, through which a diagonal line is drawn". |
| Mixed content |
"Next to the door, on the right, a small boat, without sails, drawn with infinite accuracy; next to it there is a figure showing its right profile, wrapped in a cloak that seems to hide its legs, which cannot be seen. Behind, or resting on its shoulder, is a cornucopia which could indicate that this is a female figure, although its features are rather masculine... Below these there is a complete, very large circle." |
| Mixed content |
[Photo nr. - layer - description] 1 - Layer 31.....VIII
|
| Mixed content |
G0036a-l
"... as well as boats ... there is a virile, nude figure of the athletic type, surrounded by animals amongst which two horses, a ram and a dog are recognisable." One person is wreathed. |
| Mixed content | |
| Names |
FLORO ATINI |
| Names |
(centuria) RVFI |
| Names |
IANVARIA FVIT |
| Names |
|
| Names |
|
| Names |
|
| Names |
MARIVS
|
| Names |
LCFHIC The initials of someone who was "here"? |
| Names | YACINTHVS |
| Names |
|
| Names |
CAMAND[---] Possibly a name (Gaius Amandus). In a shrine. |
| Names |
AVRELIVS HERMOGENES |
| Names |
An excubatorium is a small watch-post of the fire brigade. The date is March 18. |
| Names |
HIRPINIVS DO[---] |
| Names |
MRVSIILLIO COS SOLVI The name is probably M. Rubellius. Cos may be a false reading, because a consul with the name Marcus Rubellius is not known. |
| Names |
MMISSXVSFEGIT "[Name] made it". |
| Names |
|
| Numbers |
Small crosses. |
| Numbers |
IIII |
| Numbers |
IV |
| Numbers |
HN IIII |
| Numbers |
X H * I I |
| Numbers |
* |
| Numbers |
Tallymarks. |
| Numbers |
Tallymarks |
| Numbers |
Tally marks. |
| Numbers |
Tallymarks. |
| Numbers |
Some lines and the text ...XV... |
| Numbers |
X X X X I |
| Numbers |
Tallymarks |
| Numbers |
I I I I I X I I I I I |
| Numbers |
Tally marks. |
| Numbers |
* I I I + + + + * + I I |
| Numbers |
IIIIIII X IIIII X IIIIII X |
| Numbers |
X X I I |
| Numbers |
Tallymarks |
| Numbers |
|
| Numbers |
Tally marks. |
| Numbers |
* IIIIIIIIIIIIII |
| Numbers |
Tally marks. |
| Numbers |
|
| Numbers |
IOCINA |
| Numbers |
|
| Numbers |
XIII |
| Numbers |
IIIIV IIII D |
| Numbers |
Tallymarks |
| Numbers |
XIIIII.IIIIIII.. |
| Numbers |
|
| Numbers |
Surely modern ?! |
| Numbers |
|
| Numbers |
Surely modern ?! |
| Numbers |
XIIII |
| Numbers | Tallymarks |
| Numbers |
Surely modern ?! |
| Numbers |
IIIII |
| Numbers |
Tally marks. |
| People - About people |
[---]SVENVSTVSOMOBON\[---] ---iu]s Venustus (h)omo bonu[s] (tus was written above the line). "... Venustus is a good man". On a brick. |
| People - About people |
"Every comer scrawls the walls with his graffiti, |
| People - About people |
STEPI Possibly: "Rufio dislikes Stephanus!" (or the other way around). |
| People - About people |
VIII IDVS SIIPTIIMBRIIS "On September 6 the host Licinius ...". |
| People - About people |
ACTORES P ACTI MARTIALIS Possibly: "The stewards of Publius Actius Martialis pray that ... releases him from the ocean ... to (his estate in) Tibur". |
| People - About people |
SVIIISAMIVS Perhaps Sum Samius ("I am from Samos"). |
| People - About people |
CALVIUS [---]ILIGIVS EST Comments about a number of people. "Calvius ... Pomptinius ... is happy (?) ...Arri(us) is a good man." Then something is said about a girl and a wife. |
| People - About people |
SIICVNDE Secunde, Policarpus es? ("Secundus, you are ..."). |
| People - About people |
OBIILIA SVO "Obelia to her ..., greetings". |
| People - About people |
"Every comer scrawls the walls with his graffiti, |
| People - About people |
MVLVSAMETPATICAM "The wall loves the perverted woman" (?) |
| People - About people |
HOC QUI SCRIP[---] "He who wrote this ... below". |
| People - Famous people |
"Diogenes the Cynic". Is someone in the building being compared to Diogenes and his doglike behaviour? |
| People - Famous people |
The first words of the Aeneid of Vergilius. |
| Religion |
|
| Religion - Christianity |
The chi-rho monogram. |
| Religion - Christianity |
EX PERSECVNDE DOMINII SALVTIS EME "Lord give safety from the persecutor". (?) |
| Religion - Cult of Mithras |
A I X C I I H In a mithraeum. |
| Religion - Cult of Mithras |
X In a mithraeum. |
| Religion - Cult of Mithras |
I A N H C A S In a mithraeum. |
| Religion - Cult of Mithras |
DOMINVS SOL Dominus Sol | hic avitat = Dominus Sol hic habitat. "Lord Sun lives here". The reference is probably to Sol-Mithras.
|
| Religion - Cult of Mithras |
In a mithraeum. In the left column possibly the names of slaves (the first name may be Hylas). In the right column possibly gifts to Mithras, amongst which was wine. BINV may be vinv[m]. The X with a vertical bar may stand for denarius. The lines end with numbers. |
| Religion - Cult of Mithras |
N I I L _ _ I N In a mithraeum. |
| Religion - Imperial cult |
SVLPICIVS Near a shrine. |
| Religion - Imperial cult |
CLAVDI[---] Near a shrine. |
| Religion - Imperial cult |
C SALVIVS OPTATVS Near a shrine. |
| Religion - Imperial cult |
"For the safety of our lord Severus Alexander, the pious, the happy, Augustus. We, the soldiers of the first cohort of the fire-fighters, the Severan, were stationed in these barracks for 30 days". In a shrine. |
| Religion - Imperial cult |
C LICINIVS FELIX Near a shrine. |
| Religion - Imperial cult |
Ceriale. A short way to indicate the year 215 AD, Cerialis being one of the two eponymous consuls. In a shrine. |
| Religion - Imperial cult |
In a shrine. Lines 1-6 were written in a tabula ansata. This and the word solv(it?) indicate the fulfilment of a vow. The graffito was apparently dated (cos). |
| Religion - Imperial cult |
|
| Religion - Imperial cult |
Marius | Anna | VII Kal Maias (April 25th). In a shrine. |
| Religion - Imperial cult |
C LICINIVS CHO? FELIX Near a shrine. |
| Religion - Imperial cult |
IVLIVS FAVSTIN[---] Buchi[nator] is probably bucinator, a trumpeter. PRIMIGENIAD was written across the name Iulius Faustinus. In a shrine. |
| Religion - Imperial cult |
TMARCIVS T. Marcius "T. Marcius Ingenu(u)s [a free man], slave of the deified Emperors, a good man". Note the intentional opposition between ingenuus and servus.
|
| Religion - Imperial cult |
Coh(orte) VII (or VI) (centuria) Ost(iensis) imp(erante)
In a tabula ansata: "Calpurnius, night-watchman from the centuria of Ostiensis, from the seventh (or sixth) cohors, during the reign of Caracalla, in the year of consuls Laetus and Cerialis (215 AD), X". Sebarius = sebaciarius, night-watchman. The X means vota decennalia. In a shrine.
|
| Religion - Imperial cult |
]a tutus | ?um? sicinius [fide?]lis clodius floridianus | mantius fel[i]x feliciter. In a shrine. |
| Religion - Imperial cult |
AELIVS MASVETVS Near a shrine. |
| Religion - Imperial cult |
M MIRENIVS IVLIVS Mirenius or Myrenius. Bucinator means trumpeter. In a shrine. |
| Religion - Imperial cult |
[---]DISIVS or I/STVS Near a shrine. |
| Religion - Traditional religion |
NEPTUNE [--] E |
| Religion - Traditional religion |
VT A[_ _ _ _ _ _ ]SIT A woman named Lucceia Primitiva promises that she will thank a deity, Fortuna
Taurianensis, when she and those who are dear to her will be in good health, after
a danger which is mentioned in the first, mutilated line. It is unlikely that
this Fortuna is the protective deity of Taurianum, a town in the south of Italy.
More likely there is a relation with the cognomen Taurianus, that is documented
in the Serapeum (III,XVII,4).
|
| Religion - Traditional religion |
HERMAE On a brick of a pier of the main entrance to a building. Later covered with plaster. |
| Religion - Traditional religion |
"Righteous Hermes (Mercurius), bring profit to Hektikos." |
| Religion - Traditional religion |
MERCVR VLS P CO Mercur(io) v(otum) l(ibens) s(olvit) or s(olverunt) ... About the fulfilment of a vow to Mercurius.
|
| Religion - Traditional religion |
SATVR On a marble fragment. |
| Religion - Traditional religion |
Idus Dec (?) | XV Kal Nov (December 13th; October 18th). On the back wall of the niche of a lararium.
|
| Ships |
A boat. |
| Ships |
A boat? |
| Ships |
The prow of a boat? |
| Ships |
Part of a boat? |
| Ships |
A boat. The short mast at one end of the boat indicates that it is a tow-boat. |
| Ships |
A boat with full rigging. |
| Ships |
A boat. |
| Ships | ![]() |
| Ships |
A boat. |
| Ships |
A boat. |
| Ships |
Possibly a boat. |
| Ships |
A boat. |
| Ships |
A boat.
A face on the prow can be viewed in two ways. Here the head is looking straight forward.
Here the head is looking to its right and slightly downwards. |
| Ships |
Possibly a ship's rigging. |
| Ships |
A boat. |
| Ships |
A person in a small boat. |
| Ships |
The prow of a boat. |
| Ships |
Near "boats drawn with a very light hand, with great attention given to the details of the keel and sails." |
| Ships |
A boat. |
| Ships |
The prow of a boat. |
| Ships |
A boat. |
| Ships |
The rigging of a boat? |
| Ships |
A boat. |
| Ships |
A ship. |