Sunday, March 20, 2011

The writing's on the wall

Interesting item.

A few weeks ago, Theodora Richards — daughter of Rolling Stoner Keith — was arrested for defacing a nunnery with a red paint pen. Her message to the world: “T ♥ A.” Centuries earlier, a citizen of Aphrodisias etched a similar sentiment on the column of a portico there: “I love Epikrates.” Such inscriptions, as one essayist puts it, reveal that these ancient cities, so far removed from the world we live in now, “were inhabited by people, who lived and loved, quarreled, hated.”

Tits love ass? That could well be. They're on different sides, so it's nice to know they're not clingy.

It's actually a kind of interesting article overall. It kind of looks like most of the sentiments you see on graffiti now were in effect in the ancient world, including the "Aaron is a fagot" variety. So will today's hooliganism turn out to be tomorrow's vital historical evidence? Maybe. It's a long tomorrow.

2 comments:

susan said...

When people of the future get bored with reading about political and economic corruption in the current era I hope they'll check out some of the graffiti and learn not everybody was complicit.

Ben said...

Showcasing ephemeral art. I like that idea. There's a beautiful deer on the page you linked to.