GRAFFITI. - Graffiti, as the name says, are drawings or writings executed with a hard point on a softer background, such as wall plaster, terracotta, or even marble or metal. The drawing is characterized by its flat appearance, with almost no relief, however much one tries to compensate for this with shading and fine details; the writing by its cursive and summary nature, which generally makes it a text difficult to read.

In compensation, it tends to express personal feelings with greater freshness and immediacy. For this reason, the countless graffiti found on almost every wall of Pompeii are extremely precious; for the history of Christianity, those left by the first Christians on their tombs, on the walls of their houses and especially on the walls of their sanctuaries are no less so. Thanks precisely to them, it has several times been possible to recognize venerated sanctuaries of martyrs in the catacombs, for example, the "memoria

GRAFFITI. - Graffito with invocation to the apostles Peter and Paul (3rd century) in the Tricia Apostolorum in Catacumbas - Rome, St. Sebastian's.(courtesy of the Pont. Comm. di Archeologia Sacra)

Apostolorum" along the Appian Way, where St. Sebastian's later arose.
For the type of such writings cf. CAPITALE, SCRITTURA.

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: G. B. De Rossi, La Roma sotterranea cristiana, II. Rome 1867, pp. 13-20; H. Leclercq, Graffites, in DACL, VI, coll. 1453-1542.

Antonio Ferrua

@incollection{ec6_graffiti, author = {Ferrua, Antonio}, title = {Graffiti}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VI}, pages = {988--989}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/graffiti} }

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