Graffiti in the Athenian Agora

Genel Açıklama

Excavations of the Athenian Agora Picture Book No:14

32 s, s/b resimler, İngilizce

"Return the stamnos to Philippa's brother Philip", "cheap wine", "Alkaios seems beautiful to Melis", "Of Tharrios I am the cup". Like fragments of conversation, the thousands of informal inscriptions scratched and painted on potsherds, tiles and other objects give us a unique insight into the everyday life of the Athenian Agora. Some are marks of ownership, or the notes of merchants, but many are sexual innuendos, often accompanied by graphic illustrations. Using her wide contextual knowledge, the author suggests why these scraps of sentences were written, and what they can tell us about one of the first widely literate societies.