Date of Graduation

8-2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies (MA)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies

Advisor/Mentor

Fredrick, David

Committee Member

Vennarucci, Rhodora G.

Second Committee Member

Kahf, Mohja

Third Committee Member

Maughan, Curtis

Keywords

Epigraphy; Graffiti; Network analysis; Pompeii; Space syntax; Virgil

Abstract

This study analyzes Pompeian domestic spaces in which graffiti that quote the works of Virgil have been found. This is particularly compelling because of the Aeneid’s status as a ‘national epic,’ simultaneously ‘high’ culture and seemingly part of the ‘common’ imagination. In the past scholars have argued that the presence of Virgilian graffiti was not indicative of widespread interaction with Virgil, and that a select few individuals were responsible for these quotations. Drawing from ideas proposed by modern graffiti studies and spatial theorists and employing the methodology developed by the Virtual Pompeii Project, this study uses network analysis measures to show that a variety of people likely created Virgilian graffiti, rebutting former assumptions that they were the work only of educated elite men or school children.

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