Assignment #2: Pompeian Graffiti

Read Source 5.4 “The Graffiti and Inscriptions of Pompeii” in the Ways of the World textbook.

1. What might historians learn about love, business, politics, and religion from these inscriptions?
2. What can you discern from this graffiti about the lives and status of the enslaved – a category that included nearly all gladiators – in Roman society?
3. Do you recognize some similarity to modern life in these inscriptions, or do you seem to derive from a wholly different time and place?

Each assignment is to be two to three pages in length, double-spaced, with no more than one-inch margins, and in Times New Roman 12-point font. Put your name and the assignment number on the first page. You do not need to use citations unless you use sources other than those listed above to compose your answers.