Ancient inscriptions have been uncovered on a wall in Pompeii. Pompeii Archaeological Park

A 2,000-year-old love note and an illustrated gladiator fight scene were among the ancient inscriptions recently uncovered on a wall in Pompeii, the archaeological park announced this week.

Thought of as the graffiti of its time, the inscriptions also included stories about daily life, sporting events, passions and insults, carved into a passageway that connected Pompeii's theater district to one of its main roads. The wall was excavated more than 230 years ago, but some 300 inscriptions etched into it remained hidden until new technologies allowed researchers to identify them.

Efforts to expose the writings were part of a project called Corridor Rumors, headed by Louis Autin and Éloïse Letellier-Taillefer, of Sorbonne University in Paris, and Marie-Adeline Le Guennec of the University of Quebec in Montreal, who collaborated with the Pompeii Archaeological Park. In two waves conducted in 2022 and, again, in 2025, the researchers used various archaeological and computerized imaging techniques to resurface the lost messages.

"I'm in a hurry; take care, my Sava, make sure you love me!" reads one inscription that has resurfaced on the wall, according to the archeological park, which said that the writings "attest to the vitality, the multiplicity of interactions and forms of sociality, which developed in a public space so frequented by the inhabitants of ancient Pompeii."

Once a bustling Roman city in what is now southern Italy, Pompeii was buried under heaps of volcanic ash and pumice after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The catastrophic incident left the area frozen in time. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Pompeii has become a popular tourist attraction as well as a source of constant archaeological exploration.

"Technology is the key that opens new rooms of the ancient world, and we must also share those rooms with the public," said the archaeological park's director, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, in a statement about the latest discoveries. "We are working on a project to protect and enhance the writings, which number over 10,000 throughout Pompeii, an immense heritage. Only the use of technology can guarantee a future for all this memory of life lived in Pompeii."


From left, a gladiator fight scene etched into a wall in ancient Pompeii, and researchers' rendering of the illustration. Pompeii Archaeological Park

Source