This Ancient Pompeii Graffiti Wall Reads Like a Reddit Board. We Finally Know What It Says
Researchers using advanced imaging technology have deciphered 79 previously invisible inscriptions — including love notes, drawings of gladiators, and everyday messages — on a wall in the ancient city of Pompeii, offering a rare window into the lives of ordinary people nearly 2,000 years ago.
The inscriptions were carved into a 90-foot-long passageway that once connected two theaters in Pompeii’s theater district.
The wall, first discovered in 1794, contains roughly 300 surviving inscriptions. About 200 had been recorded by experts over the following centuries, but many others were too faint to read — until now.
Researchers used a technique called Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), which combines many photos taken under different light sources, to reveal faded messages previously invisible to the naked eye.
The findings were published in the journal Scavi di Pompei.
RTI images were combined with metadata and photogrammetry to build a new online tool for examining the inscriptions, set to launch sometime in 2026 and eventually open to the public.
The project is called Corridor Rumors, led by historian Marie-Adeline Le Guennec of the University of Quebec at Montreal alongside Louis Autin and Éloïse Letellier-Taillefer of Sorbonne University in Paris, per CBS News.
Ancient Love Stories Carved in Stone
Among the most compelling discoveries are messages of love and longing left by people whose names might otherwise have been lost to history.
A woman named Erato carved “Erato amat,” or “Erato loves,” into the passageway wall. The name of her beloved has been lost to time, leaving a tantalizing fragment of a story that will never be fully told.
Her message endured the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius, centuries of burial beneath volcanic ash, and the slow fade of time itself.
Another inscription reads with urgency: “I’m in a hurry; take care, my Sava, make sure you love me!”
Perhaps the most poignant message comes from an enslaved laborer named Methe, who wrote that she “loves Cresto in her heart.” Methe also wrote: “May the Venus of Pompeii be favorable to both of them, and may they always live in harmony.”
These inscriptions carry particular significance because of who wrote them.
As Le Guennec explained in an interview with Smithsonian magazine: “This project highlights urban communication, especially from sections of the population that do not usually appear in literature or official inscriptions.”
“It also sheds light on the way theaters were used as public spaces in the Roman world, as well as on the graphic skills and literacy of ordinary people,” Le Guennec added.
A One-of-a-Kind Gladiator Sketch on the Wall
The newly deciphered inscriptions aren’t limited to words.
A newly found sketch shows two armed gladiators, each about four inches tall. One appears to be leaning back in a feint or parry — described as resembling the perspective of a spectator at the amphitheater, suggesting the artist may have been drawing from memory after watching a real fight.
Another figure, found on the south wall, is possibly a woman depicted wearing a helmet and carrying a shield.
Female gladiators are rarely mentioned in ancient documents, making this potentially one of the only known images of one — a detail that could reshape understanding of who participated in gladiatorial combat.
An Ancient Social Hub With a Bulletin Board
Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 C.E., burying and simultaneously preserving Pompeii. Archaeologists have been excavating the site since the 18th century, per History.com.
Over the years, more than 11,000 inscriptions have been found across the city, ranging from political commentary and love declarations to sporting slogans, jokes, and poems.
The passageway functioned as more than just a corridor — it was a social hub, a place for passing through, chatting, and socializing. The inscriptions are described as the graffiti of their time.
Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, wrote in a statement: “Technology is the key that is shedding new light on the ancient world. Only the use of technology can guarantee a future for all this memory of life lived in Pompeii.”
Zuchtriegel described the passageway as “a kind of notice board … where people left messages, history, greetings, insults, drawings and much more,” in a video, per a translation by the Art Newspaper.
The voices captured on that wall belong not to emperors or senators, but to lovers, laborers, sports fans, and artists who left their marks in a corridor between two theaters, never imagining those marks would still be read 2,000 years later.
BOTTOM LINE: The Corridor Rumors online tool is set to open to the public in the coming years, giving anyone the chance to examine these ancient messages for themselves.
Production of this article included the use of AI. It was reviewed and edited by a team of content specialists.
