|
GRAFFITO , plural graffiti, the See also:Italian word meaning " scribbling " or " scratchings " (graffiare, to scribble, Gr. ypac/sew), adopted by archaeologists as a See also:general See also:term for the casual writings, See also:rude drawings and markings on See also:ancient buildings, in distinction from the more formal or deliberate writings known as " See also:inscriptions." These " graffiti," either scratched on See also:- STONE
- STONE (0. Eng. shin; the word is common to Teutonic languages, cf. Ger. Stein, Du. steen, Dan. and Swed. sten; the root is also seen in Gr. aria, pebble)
- STONE, CHARLES POMEROY (1824-1887)
- STONE, EDWARD JAMES (1831-1897)
- STONE, FRANK (1800-1859)
- STONE, GEORGE (1708—1764)
- STONE, LUCY [BLACKWELL] (1818-1893)
- STONE, MARCUS (184o— )
- STONE, NICHOLAS (1586-1647)
stone or See also:plaster by a See also:sharp See also:instrument such as a See also:nail, or, more rarely, written in red See also:chalk or See also:black See also:charcoal, are found in See also:great abundance, e.g. on the monuments of ancient See also:Egypt. The best-known " graffiti " are those in See also:Pompeii and in the catacombs and else-where in See also:Rome. They have been collected by R. Garrucci (Graffiti di Pompei, See also:Paris, 1856), and L. Correra (" Graffiti di See also:Roma " in Bolletino della commissione municipale archaeologica, Rome, 1893; see also Corp. Ins. See also:Lat. iv., See also:Berlin, 1871). The subject See also:matter of these scribblings is much the same as that of the similar scrawls made to-See also:day by boys, See also:street idlers and the casual " tripper." The schoolboy of Pompeii wrote out lists of nouns and verbs, alphabets and lines from See also:Virgil for memorizing, lovers wrote the names of their beloved, " See also:sports-men " scribbled the names of horses they had been " tipped," and wrote those of their favourite See also:gladiators. See also:Personal abuse is frequent, and rude caricatures are found, such as that of one Peregrinus with an enormous See also:nose, or of Naso or Nasso with hardly any. Aulus Vettius Firmus writes up his See also:election address and appeals to the pilicrepi or See also:ball-players for their votes for him as See also:aedile. Lines of See also:poetry, chiefly suited for lovers in dejection or See also:triumph, are popular, and See also:Ovid and See also:Propertius appear to be favourites. Apparently private owners of See also:property See also:felt the See also:nuisance of the defacement of their walls, and at Rome near the Porta Portuensis has been found an inscription begging See also:people not to scribble (scariphare) on the walls.
Graffiti are of some importance to the palaeographer and to the philologist as illustrating the forms and corruptions of the various alphabets and See also:languages used by the people, and occasion-ally See also:guide the archaeologist to the date of the See also:building on which they appear, but they are chiefly valuable for the See also:light they throw on the everyday See also:life of the " See also:man in the street " of the See also:period, and for the intimate details of customs and institutions which no literature or formal inscriptions can give. The graffiti dealing with the gladiatorial shows at Pompeii are in this respect particularly noteworthy; the rude drawings such as that of the secutor caught in the See also:net of the retiarius and lying entirely at his See also:mercy, give a more vivid picture of what the incidents of these shows were like than any See also:account in words (see Garrucci, op. cit., Pls. x.-xiv.; A. Mau, Pompeii in Leben and Kunst, 2nd ed., 1908, ch. See also:xxx.). In 1866 in the Trastevere See also:quarter of Rome, near the See also:- CHURCH
- CHURCH (according to most authorities derived from the Gr. Kvpcaxov [&wµa], " the Lord's [house]," and common to many Teutonic, Slavonic and other languages under various forms—Scottish kirk, Ger. Kirche, Swed. kirka, Dan. kirke, Russ. tserkov, Buig. cerk
- CHURCH, FREDERICK EDWIN (1826-1900)
- CHURCH, GEORGE EARL (1835–1910)
- CHURCH, RICHARD WILLIAM (1815–189o)
- CHURCH, SIR RICHARD (1784–1873)
church of S. Crisogono, was discovered the guard-See also:house (excubitorium) of the seventh See also:cohort of the See also:city See also:police (vigiles), the walls being covered by the scribblings of the See also:guards, illustrating in detail the daily routine, the hardships and dangers, and the feelings of the. men towards their See also:officers (W. Henzen," L' Escubitorio della Settima coorte dei Vigili " in See also:Bull. Inst. 1867, and Annali Inst., 1894; see also R. Lanciani, Ancient Rome in the Light of See also:Recent Discoveries, 230, and Ruins and Excavations of Ancient Rome, 1897, 548). The most famous graffito yet discovered is that generally accepted as representing a See also:caricature of See also:Christ upon the See also:cross, found on the walls of the Domus Gelotiana on the See also:Palatine in 1857, and now preserved in the Kircherian Museum of the Collegio Romano. Deeply scratched in the See also:wall is a figure of a man clad in the See also:short tunica with one See also:hand upraised in salutation to another figure, with the See also:head of an See also:ass, or possibly a See also:horse, See also:hanging on a cross; beneath is written in rude See also:Greek letters " Anaxamenos worships (his) See also:god." It has been suggested that this represents an adherent of some Gnostic See also:sect worshipping one of the See also:animal-headed deities of Egypt (see Ferd. See also:Becker, Das Spottcrucifix der romischen Kaiserpalaste, See also:Breslau, 1866; F. X. Kraus, Das Spottcrucifix vom Palatin, See also:Freiburg in See also:Breisgau, 1872; and See also:Visconti and Lanciani, Guida del Palatino).
There is an interesting See also:article, with many quotations of graffiti, in the See also:Edinburgh See also:Review, See also:October 1859, vol. cx. (C.
End of Article: GRAFFITO
Additional information and Comments
There are no comments yet for this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.
Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.
|
del.icio.us it!