Ancient Graffiti Project
The Ancient Graffiti Project
Directors
- Rebecca Benefiel, Project Director
- Sara Sprenkle, Technical Director
- Holly Sypniewski, Assistant Director
Description
Aims and scope
The project website defines graffiti as "handwritten inscriptions that have been incised or scratched into wall-plaster".
The project presents newly curated digital editions and contextual data for ancient graffiti from the cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii. It aims to provide scholars with a flexible digital tool to search these handwritten inscriptions in their spatial context. Thus, the project spans epigraphy and archaeology.
Both textual and figural graffiti (hand-sketched drawings) are available.
More than 3000 ancient graffiti are now searchable. These include all 300+ ancient graffiti from Herculaneum, all 450+ ancient graffiti from Stabiae, and more than 2200 inscriptions from Pompeii.
The recently discovered ancient graffiti from ancient Smyrna are also now available at AGP.
Search platform
The project website provides a sophisticated search engine that allows users to conduct a range of queries, including searches based on the location of the graffiti ("Search by Map"), by the type of property (e.g. public building, house, workshop), category of drawing (e.g. animals, boats, geometric designs), writing style, content of the inscription, and more.
Interoperability
The epigraphical database and the search platform are interoperable with the EAGLE epigraphic database, the EDR (Epigraphic Database Roma) and the EAGLE Europeana Network. Search results may be downloaded in EpiDoc, JSON, and CSV formats.
Publications
Publications of epigraphic editions
- R. Benefiel and H. Sypniewski, “Regio I – Latium et Campania. Fasciolo V. Pompeii – Tituli scariphati.” Italia Epigrafica Digitale ser. 2, (2020), v. 1, n. 2.5.
https://rosa.uniroma1.it/rosa03/italia_epigrafica_digitale/issue/view/IED%20II%2C%202.5
- R. Benefiel, H. Sypniewski, K. Helms, and E. Zimmerman Damer, “Regio I – Latium et Campania. Pompeii et Herculaneum: Graffiti,” Italia Epigrafica Digitale ser. 1 (2017), v. 2, n. 3, 856 pp.
https://rosa.uniroma1.it/rosa03/italia_epigrafica_digitale/issue/view/1169
Publications about AGP and by AGP team members
- Benefiel, H. Sypniewski, “Documenting ancient graffiti: Text, image, support, and access,” Scratched, Scrawled, Sprayed: Towards a Cross-Cultural Research on Graffiti, edited by O. Skrabal, L. Mascia, A. L. Osthof, and M. Ratzke, Studies in Manuscript Cultures vol. 35, Berlin: De Gruyter (2023), 425-465. doi.org/10.1515/9783111326306-014
- N. Wellington, R. Benefiel, “A Resource for Teachers: Making Ancient Graffiti Accessible and Usable in the Latin Classroom,” Classical Outlook 97.3 (2022), 111-120.
- K. Helms, “Pompeii’s Safaitic Graffiti.” Journal of Roman Studies 111 (2021), 203-214.
- R. Benefiel, H. Sypniewski, E. Zimmermann Damer, “Wall Inscriptions in the Ancient City: The Ancient Graffiti Project,” From Document to History. Epigraphic Insights into the Greco-Roman World, (eds.) C. Noreñaand N. Papazarkadas, Leiden: Brill (2019), 179-196.
- R. Benefiel, H. Sypniewski, “Greek Graffiti in Herculaneum,” American Journal of Archaeology vol. 122.2 (2018), 209-244.
- R. Benefiel, S. Sprenkle, H. Sypniewski, J. White, "The Ancient Graffiti Project: Geo-Spatial Visualization and Search Tools for Ancient Handwritten Inscriptions," in: DATeCH 2017 Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Digital Access to Textual Cultural Heritage, New York: ACM (2017), 163-168.
- The Journal of FASTI Online, 2016, report on fieldwork in Herculaneum <http://www.fastionline.org/docs/FOLDER-it-2016-361.pdf>
- R. Benefiel, H. Sypniewski, "Images and Text on the Walls of Herculaneum: Designing the Ancient Graffiti Project," in: Off the Beaten Track. Epigraphy at the Borders, edited by A. E. Felle and A. Rocco, Archeopress (2016), 29-48.
- R. Benefiel, S. Sprenkle, The Herculaneum Graffiti Project, ISAW Papers 7.4 (Current Practice in Linked Open Data for the Ancient World), (2014).
- R. Benefiel, S. Sprenkle, P. Jang, The Herculaneum Graffiti Project, a poster presented at the EAGLE International Conference Paris, September 2014.
