POMPEI, Italy, Jan 19 (Reuters) – A love letter, a gladiatorial fight scene and a barrage of everyday insults and confessions have appeared on a wall in the city of Pompeii, thanks to new imaging technology that has revealed nearly 80 never-before-seen inscriptions.
The once thriving city of Pompeii, near Naples, was buried in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, leaving buildings, objects and graffiti preserved under meters of ash.
It was rediscovered in the 18th century and is now one of the most important archaeological sites in the world.
The latest finds were found etched on the plaster of a long corridor connecting Pompeii’s theaters to the city’s busy Via Stabiana which was first discovered more than 230 years ago.
The researchers used a computational imaging method known as reflection transform imaging (RTI) that captures an object under multiple illumination angles – revealing faint scratches that are invisible to the naked eye after centuries of wear.
The archaeologists did not expect new discoveries on a surface considered completely documented, but their work identified about 300 inscriptions, including 79 new ones.
The so-called “Whispers of the Corridor” project was developed by researchers Louis Otin and Eloise Letelier-Tailfer of the Sorbonne University in Paris and Marie-Adeline Le Genec of the University of Quebec, working with the Pompeii authorities.
“This technology is the key that opens new rooms in the ancient world,” said Gabriel Zutztriegel, director of the huge archaeological site, adding that the known inscriptions of Pompeii, which number more than 10,000, constitute a “tremendous heritage” of the ancient world.
The team is developing a 3D platform that combines photogrammetry, RTI data, and epigraphic metadata to allow full visualization and annotation of graffiti.
Examples of already known texts include a quick farewell to a lover – “I’m in a hurry. Goodbye, Sava, be sure you love me!”. Another inscription records the devotion of Methe, a slave of Attila, to her lover Christo, with a petition for the favor of Venus, the Roman goddess of love.
Among the new discoveries are a faint sketch of two gladiators fighting and the beginnings of a declaration of love – “Erato loves…”
(Reporting by Crispian Palmer, Editing by Gareth Jones)