Ancient Graffiti Project

Aims and scope
The project website defines graffiti as "inscriptions that have been incised or scratched into wall-plaster".

The project digitizes ancient graffiti from the ancient cities of Herculanum and Pompeii. It aims to provide scholars with a flexible digital tool to search the inscriptions in their spatial context. Thus, the project spans between epigraphy and archaeology.

The goal of the project is to include graffiti grom both Herculanum and Pompeii, but at the moment most inscriptions come from the former, while only one block from Pompeei is currently included (Regio I, Insula 8).

Search platform
The website provides a sophisticated search engine that allows for searches based on the location of the graffiti ("Search by Map"), as well as on its properties, drawing type and content.

Interoperability
The epigraphical database and the search platform are interoperable with the EAGLE epigraphic database, the EDR (Epigraphic Database Roma) and EAGLE Europeana.

External resources

 * Project home page: http://ancientgraffiti.wlu.edu
 * R. Benefiel, S. Sprenkle, P. Jang, The Herculaneum Graffiti Project, a poster presented at the EAGLE International Conference Paris, September 2004.