Just how old graffiti is.
A recent news article mentioned the discovery of 2000-year-old scribblings in Old Tamil, etched onto the even more ancient murals left by the Pharaohs. The Indian traveler, a man named Cikai Korran, felt inclined to announce to the world that he had been there…
We’ve seen this sort of thing many times before — there is ancient Norse graffiti in the Hagia Sofia, for instance, left there by Viking travelers who decided to etch their names or some witty lines in the marble for posterity:
There is a very strong human tendency in a great many of us to be remembered, and to announce to the world our presence in faraway places that amaze us. So throughout history, people in awe of whatever place they visit, be it a tomb, temple or palace, have reached for their daggers or pocket knives and started etching…
I once read Victor Hugo came up with the idea for his famous novel “The Hunchback of the Nortre Dame” when he climbed up to the church attic and found, etched in ancient stones and wood placed there centuries prior, the scribblings of priests, construction workers and travellers etched there in Medieval times. What was once mindless vandalism had since become priceless history — he argued it should be preserved. Today’s vandals are tomorrow’s insight into the past.
