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Film, Video Making Sense of Ancient Graffiti

Event video

Transcript: TEXT

About this Item

Title

  • Making Sense of Ancient Graffiti

Summary

  • In the year AD 79, Mount Vesuvius erupted with devastating force, burying the nearby town of Pompeii under more than thirty feet of volcanic debris. Pompeii was effectively wiped off the map, but buried below the surface the material remains of the town were preserved in remarkable detail. While best known for its art and architecture, Pompeii also offers a colorful glimpse into the world of ancient graffiti via thousands of messages written on the walls of the city. This talk by Rebecca Benefiel explores this particularly widespread phenomenon occurring in the first century. Including both public advertisements and handwritten messages, these graffiti reveal an active populace, from city magistrate to humble slave, engaging in this mode of communication. What further emerges is a sense of the strong presence of writing in the ancient city, as well as clues into the social and cultural trends that inspired it.

Names

  • Library of Congress
  • John W. Kluge Center (Library of Congress), sponsoring body

Created / Published

  • Washington, D.C. : Library of Congress, 2012-07-05.

Headings

  • -  Biography, History
  • -  Government, World Affairs
  • -  Cities, Towns
  • -  Culture, Folklife

Notes

  • -  Classification: General Works.
  • -  Classification: History (General) and History of Europe.
  • -  Classification: Social Sciences.
  • -  Rebecca R. Benefiel.
  • -  Recorded on 2012-07-05.
  • -  Librarians, Archivists.
  • -  Researchers.
  • -  Teachers.

Medium

  • 1 online resource

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2021688917

Online Format

  • video
  • image
  • online text

Additional Metadata Formats

Rights & Access

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Credit Line: Library of Congress

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Library Of Congress, and Sponsoring Body John W. Kluge Center. Making Sense of Ancient Graffiti. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, -07-05, 2012. Video. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021688917/.

APA citation style:

Library Of Congress & John W. Kluge Center, S. B. (2012) Making Sense of Ancient Graffiti. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, -07-05. [Video] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021688917/.

MLA citation style:

Library Of Congress, and Sponsoring Body John W. Kluge Center. Making Sense of Ancient Graffiti. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, -07-05, 2012. Video. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2021688917/>.