“What’s in a Name?” Mapping Women’s Names from the Graffiti of Pompeii and Herculaneum
Abstract
The sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum provide remarkable evidence of the pervasiveness of writing in an ancient Roman city. The wall plaster that has survived, inside and outside of buildings, has preserved not only the majority of extant ancient Roman fresco, but also thousands of written messages—both official, public, painted announcements (dipinti), and unofficial, individually handwritten messages scratched into plaster or portable objects (graffiti). The handwritten inscriptions are filled with names and references to those dwelling in or traveling through Pompeii and Herculaneum, and include the names of many non-elite women of Campania. Study of these women has been hindered by several different issues, including the types of names that appear in graffiti.
Document Type
Book Chapter
ISBN
9781477323588
Publication Date
11-23-2021
Publisher Statement
© 2026 University of Texas Press. All Rights Reserved.
This book may be purchased here: https://utpress.utexas.edu/9781477323588/
Recommended Citation
Damer, Erika Zimmerman. 2021. “‘What’s in a Name?’ Mapping Women’s Names from the Graffiti of Herculaneum and Pompeii.” Ch. 8. InWomen’s Lives, Women’s Voices: Roman Material Culture and Female Agency in the Bay of Naples, edd. Brenda Longfellow and Molly Swetnam-Burland. U. Texas Press, 151-73.
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