full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Jacqueline DiBiasie-Sammons: Ancient Pompeii's hidden messages, preserved in graffiti

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Now looking at graffiti in isolation such as this is interesting, but we can gain so much more when we examine them in context to understand how these graffiti relate to each other and the places they were written in. But to do that we're going to have to travel to ancient Pompeii. Now I wish we could all go there together. Instead I'm going to take us there virtually. We're going to walk down one avenue in ancient Pompeii to find the grfaifti that were once written there and figure out what can these graffiti tell us about life in antiquity and life in the 21st century.

This is our avenue that we’ll be wanlkig down, the Vicolo del maednnro, a smlal seetrt in a residential dtriscit. We're one block off from the main avenue in town, in between the theater and the aeththaimepr. As we walk down the avenue, we see many neams. Most of the names are male, as we believe many more men than women were literate in acinent Pompeii, but some felmae names jump out to us too. It used to be assumed that very few women in the ancient world were literate, but graffiti from Pompeii have truly complicated that picture.

Open Cloze


Now looking at graffiti in isolation such as this is interesting, but we can gain so much more when we examine them in context to understand how these graffiti relate to each other and the places they were written in. But to do that we're going to have to travel to ancient Pompeii. Now I wish we could all go there together. Instead I'm going to take us there virtually. We're going to walk down one avenue in ancient Pompeii to find the ________ that were once written there and figure out what can these graffiti tell us about life in antiquity and life in the 21st century.

This is our avenue that we’ll be _______ down, the Vicolo del ________, a _____ ______ in a residential ________. We're one block off from the main avenue in town, in between the theater and the ____________. As we walk down the avenue, we see many _____. Most of the names are male, as we believe many more men than women were literate in _______ Pompeii, but some ______ names jump out to us too. It used to be assumed that very few women in the ancient world were literate, but graffiti from Pompeii have truly complicated that picture.

Solution


  1. ancient
  2. street
  3. small
  4. female
  5. menandro
  6. walking
  7. names
  8. district
  9. graffiti
  10. amphitheater

Original Text


Now looking at graffiti in isolation such as this is interesting, but we can gain so much more when we examine them in context to understand how these graffiti relate to each other and the places they were written in. But to do that we're going to have to travel to ancient Pompeii. Now I wish we could all go there together. Instead I'm going to take us there virtually. We're going to walk down one avenue in ancient Pompeii to find the graffiti that were once written there and figure out what can these graffiti tell us about life in antiquity and life in the 21st century.

This is our avenue that we’ll be walking down, the Vicolo del Menandro, a small street in a residential district. We're one block off from the main avenue in town, in between the theater and the amphitheater. As we walk down the avenue, we see many names. Most of the names are male, as we believe many more men than women were literate in ancient Pompeii, but some female names jump out to us too. It used to be assumed that very few women in the ancient world were literate, but graffiti from Pompeii have truly complicated that picture.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
ancient graffiti 4
ancient pompeii 3
modern graffiti 3
wall plaster 3
elegant writing 3
deadly eruption 2
mount vesuvius 2
ordinary romans 2
latin graffiti 2
social media 2
roman cursive 2
written upside 2
interspersed forwards 2
prima write 2
secundus wrote 2


Important Words


  1. amphitheater
  2. ancient
  3. antiquity
  4. assumed
  5. avenue
  6. block
  7. century
  8. complicated
  9. context
  10. del
  11. district
  12. examine
  13. female
  14. figure
  15. find
  16. gain
  17. graffiti
  18. interesting
  19. isolation
  20. jump
  21. life
  22. literate
  23. main
  24. male
  25. men
  26. menandro
  27. names
  28. picture
  29. places
  30. pompeii
  31. relate
  32. residential
  33. small
  34. street
  35. theater
  36. town
  37. travel
  38. understand
  39. vicolo
  40. virtually
  41. walk
  42. walking
  43. women
  44. world
  45. written