Pompeii Graffiti Translations: Famous Quotes & Wall Writing

Last reviewed: 8 October 2026.

What does the graffiti in Pompeii say?

Pompeii graffiti say ordinary things: names, greetings, love messages, jokes, literary lines, drawings, and short notes about everyday life. The examples below pair selected Latin texts with cautious English translations and catalogue records, so readers can see what the wall writing says without treating one surviving message as a portrait of the whole city.

Pompeii graffiti are handwritten messages incised into wall plaster. They are valuable because they preserve small pieces of communication that formal monuments and literary texts often leave out.

The word graffiti is often used for every kind of writing on a Pompeian wall. In epigraphy, however, it usually means writing scratched or incised with a pointed tool. Dipinti are painted wall inscriptions, including many public notices and election slogans. The distinction matters when a source describes a text, assigns a catalogue number, or translates a damaged letter.

For a concise introduction, see the Archaeological Park of Pompeii’s wall-inscriptions guide. For searchable records, translations, findspots, and editorial notes, use The Ancient Graffiti Project.

Examples of Pompeii wall writing

The surviving examples cover several kinds of communication:

• Love and greetings: writers named people, sent greetings, praised a lover, or asked the goddess Venus for help.
• Humour and personal remarks: some texts are jokes, complaints, insults, or comments on an ordinary event.
• Literary and educational writing: quotations and lines of verse show that remembered texts could appear beside more spontaneous messages.
• Names and short marks: a name or greeting can identify a person’s presence without telling us exactly why they wrote it.
• Painted public notices: election recommendations and other formal wall texts belong mainly to the related category of dipinti, not to scratched graffiti.

The safest interpretation is usually the narrowest one. A graffito may show that a name, phrase, or relationship was written on a wall; it does not automatically prove the writer’s social class, literacy rate, intention, or popularity.

Verified Pompeii graffiti quotes and translations

The examples below are linked to records maintained by the Ancient Graffiti Project. Editorial brackets, normalized spellings, and punctuation can differ from the marks that remain on the wall.

Latin text	Translation	What the record tells us
Admiror o pariens te non cecidisse ruinis qui tot scriptorum taedia sustineas	“I am amazed, O wall, that you have not fallen into ruins since you hold the boring scribbles of so many writers.”	AGP-EDR158840 records an incised Latin text found in the Basilica (VIII.1.1) and cites CIL 04, 01904.
Amantes, ut apes, vita(m) mellita(m) exigunt / Velle(m)!	“Lovers, like bees, lead a honeyed life. I wish [it]!”	AGP-EDR175601 places the incised text in the Casa degli Amanti (I.10.11), cites CIL 04, 08408a,b, and notes that the second line was written by another hand.
Methe Cominiaes Atellana amat Chrestum …	“Methe, a slave of Cominia, from the town of Atella, loves Chrestus. May Pompeian Venus be propitious to them both and may they always live harmoniously.”	AGP-EDR168048 records an incised Latin love text from the theatre corridor (VIII.7.20) and gives CIL 04, 02457.
Viator, Pompeis pane(m) gustas / Nuceriae bibes	“Traveler, at Pompeii you eat bread; at Nuceria you will drink!”	The AGP Pompeii feature links this short travel-related joke to AGP-EDR147519.
Qui mihi docendi dederit mercedem / (h)abeat quod petit a superis	“May he who has given me payment for teaching have whatever he asks from the gods.”	The AGP Pompeii feature identifies this as AGP-EDR127405, a short text associated with teaching and payment.
Miximus in lecto. Fateor, peccavimus, hospes. Si dices, ‘quare?’ Nulla matella fuit.	“We peed in the bed. I admit it, host, we messed up. If you ask why, there was no chamber pot.”	The AGP Pompeii feature identifies this humorous incised text as AGP-EDR175872.

These translations are examples, not a complete directory. A short text can have a complicated publication history, and a damaged surface may support more than one reading.

How to check a Pompeii graffiti translation

Start with the catalogue entry, not a quotation image. The table above gives an AGP identifier for each example so you can compare the Latin transcription, English translation and recorded findspot. When a quotation is shared without a record number, its spelling, attribution and location are harder to check.

Check	Why it matters
Full text versus an excerpt	The Methe example above abbreviates the Latin with an ellipsis; the English renders the longer message, not just the displayed opening words.
Surviving letters versus editorial restoration	Brackets, parentheses and normalized spellings need the entry's conventions and notes. They are not all letters visibly preserved on the wall.
One writer versus a later response	The lovers-and-bees record distinguishes the first message from a second hand's reply.
Recorded findspot versus present access	A catalogue location identifies where a text was documented; it does not confirm that today's visitor can see it.

For a research citation, retain the identifier and bibliography alongside the translation. For a visit, check the Park's current open-building information separately. These two checks answer different questions.

Graffiti versus dipinti and programmata

Feature	Graffiti	Dipinti and programmata
How it was made	Incised or scratched into plaster with a pointed tool	Painted onto a wall with a brush
Typical format	Handwritten words, names, drawings, greetings, jokes, or short verses	Public notices, recommendations, announcements, or other painted messages
How to interpret it	Often informal and individual, although context still matters	Usually planned wall communication; the wording and layout can be part of the message
Why the distinction matters	The tool marks and damaged letters are part of the evidence	Paint layers, faded colour, and layout must be recorded differently

The Park’s wall-inscriptions guide describes both painted inscriptions and graffiti made with a tip. Treating every wall text as “graffiti” can blur the difference between a personal incised message and a formal painted notice.

Why translations and CIL numbers sometimes differ

CIL IV is the historic catalogue of wall inscriptions from Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae. Modern projects add photographs, maps, findspot data, digital exports, and new readings. The Ancient Graffiti Project’s version 2 overview describes critical editions of about 550 Pompeii graffiti in selected areas, searchable maps, and downloadable EpiDoc, JSON, and CSV data. That is a documented project scope, not a count of every graffiti text in Pompeii.

The same poem can also appear in more than one place with different damage or spelling. For example, the Basilica record AGP-EDR158840 cites CIL 04, 01904, while the theatre record AGP-EDR158841 preserves a shorter and damaged version and cites CIL 04, 02461. The records do not justify collapsing every occurrence into one location or one exact text.

When reading a scholarly record, look for:

1. Findspot: where the writing was recorded, such as a named building or street sector.
2. Writing style: whether the record identifies the text as incised or painted.
3. Editorial marks: brackets and normalized spellings show uncertainty or an editor’s explanation.
4. Bibliography: CIL, EDR, photographs, drawings, and later studies may document different stages of the reading.

What Pompeii graffiti reveal about daily life

Wall writing gives access to ordinary interactions, but it should not be treated as an unfiltered transcript of the whole city. The evidence is shaped by what survived, what was excavated, what earlier researchers recorded, and what current scholars can still read.

The official Pompeii e-journal makes this point through ongoing research. Its 2026 article on the theatre corridor describes a corpus of about 200 previously published graffiti alongside 79 previously unpublished inscriptions documented through new fieldwork, spatial recording, and Reflectance Transformation Imaging. Read “Bruits de couloir”: Shedding New Light on Ancient Graffiti for the project’s method and limits.

This is why a small message can be useful without supporting a sweeping claim. A love text can show a named relationship or a wish for harmony. A joke can show what a writer expected another reader to understand. A teacher’s-payment text can preserve a fragment of an economic exchange. None of those examples alone establishes a city-wide literacy percentage or a universal Roman attitude toward wall writing.

Can you see original graffiti at Pompeii today?

Some Pompeii graffiti survive in situ, but individual texts may be difficult to see, protected, weathered, or inaccessible during a visit. Access and conservation conditions can change, so avoid promising a fixed “graffiti walking tour” without checking the Park’s current visitor information.

For research before or after a visit:

• Search the Ancient Graffiti Project’s Pompeii records by text, theme, location, and catalogue entry.
• Read the Park’s illustrated wall-inscriptions guide.
• Follow the Park’s visitor regulations and never touch, trace, or add marks to a wall.

If you want to plan an in-person visit around the surviving inscriptions, check our official Pompeii ticket booking guide, Pompeii opening-hours guide, and best things to see at Pompeii before relying on a particular building or wall being accessible.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between graffiti and dipinti in Pompeii?

In epigraphy, graffiti are usually texts incised or scratched into wall plaster. Dipinti are painted wall inscriptions. Electoral programmata are a type of painted public notice, so they are related to Pompeii wall writing but are not the same medium as scratched graffiti.

How many graffiti inscriptions have been found in Pompeii?

There is no single safe total for every inscription and every edition. The Ancient Graffiti Project describes critical editions of about 550 Pompeii graffiti in selected areas in one version of its database; that figure is not a total for the entire city. CIL IV and newer digital projects continue to organize a much broader and changing corpus.

What is the most famous graffiti quote found in Pompeii?

One of the best-known is “Admiror o paries, te non cecidisse ruinis, qui tot scriptorum taedia sustineas”: “I am amazed, O wall, that you have not fallen into ruins, since you hold the boring scribbles of so many writers.” The Ancient Graffiti Project record documents a Basilica example and cites CIL 04, 01904.

What languages appear in Pompeii graffiti?

Latin is prominent, and Greek graffiti and Greek words are also documented. The surviving corpus reflects a multilingual city, but a simple percentage for each language can be misleading because discoveries, preservation, and editorial methods are uneven.

What do Pompeii election slogans look like?

Many election slogans were painted on exterior walls rather than scratched into plaster. They belong to the related category of dipinti or programmata and should be distinguished from informal incised graffiti.

Can visitors still see original graffiti at Pompeii?

Some wall writings survive in situ, but visibility, conservation, and visitor access change. Use the Archaeological Park’s current visitor information and the Ancient Graffiti Project’s searchable records instead of relying on an unverified walking route.

How do scholars verify a Pompeii graffiti translation?

Researchers compare the surviving surface with earlier drawings and photographs, record damage and uncertain letters, and consult CIL, EDR, and critical digital editions such as the Ancient Graffiti Project. A record’s findspot and editorial notes matter as much as a modern translation.

Primary sources

• Archaeological Park of Pompeii: Wall inscriptions
• Ancient Graffiti Project: About the database
• Ancient Graffiti Project: Featured Pompeii graffiti
• Ancient Graffiti Project: Featured love graffiti
• Ancient Graffiti Project: Version 2.0.0 and project scope
• Pompeii E-Journal: New research on the theatre-corridor graffiti