Hiding in Plain Sight: Exploring Apotropaic Agency in the Gorgon Graffiti of Pompeii (20 min)

Presenters

Abigail Staub, University of Michigan

Abstract

Roman figural graffiti, with their characteristic roughness, have historically been treated as inferior in didactic value both to textual graffiti and to formal figural representations. The resulting systemic underrecording has led to widespread loss; the first comprehensive catalogue of Roman figural graffiti was only published in 2001. However, within the past decade, scholars like Rebecca Benefiel have drawn critical attention to the sociocultural value of Roman graffiti studies broadly. Benefiel suggests that graffitified surfaces, typically found in well-frequented spaces, exert influence on passersby, enticing them to approach and contribute. Increased engagements strengthen a surface’s visibility and allure, creating a generative dialogue. Applying Benefiel’s framework, and building on Margaret Laird’s 2021 study of women in graffiti, I argue that the gorgon graffiti of Pompeii were exceptionally efficacious apotropaia not in spite of, but because of their presence within a persuasive graffitified topography.

This analysis considers all recorded graffiti images of gorgons at Pompeii within their spatial contexts, both standalone heads and those within Minerva’s aegis. The latter are typically not considered apotropaic in their own right, but I argue that the camouflaging nature of the aegis heightened their potency. Two gorgons appear in the Large Palaestra, another in the Stabian Baths (alongside four, now lost, gorgons), and the last in the atrium of the House of the Centenary (IX.8.6). As embedded graffiti, they could catch potentially malevolent voyeurs unaware, encouraging them to approach only to repulse and infect them. Such apotropaic graffiti also allowed a maker, regardless of literacy, to exert immediate psychological control over their experience of space and imbue vulnerable loci with protection.

In this paper, I reconceptualize apotropaic figural graffiti not as inert etchings but as active agents that provoked tangible action and consequences in a multisensory environment. By examining the images in situ, we can return critical value to the category of figural graffiti.