[image ALT: Much of my site will be useless to you if you've got the images turned off!]

ORACVLO: A Mysterious Graffito

[image ALT: A broken slab of marble incised with a rude circle about 45 cm in diameter. Toward the bottom of the circle, inside it, the word ORACVLO. It is an ancient Roman gameboard and graffito on a step of the Basilica Julia in the Roman Forum in Rome.]

This incised graffito is on the lowest (extant) step of the W end of the Basilica Iulia in the Roman Forum. The circular arc is doubtless part of a gameboard scratched on the step in Roman times; but what about the graffito? Does it too go back to Antiquity? If so, does it mean anything in particular? Was it part of the gameboard or is it completely separate, just happening to be in the same place?

The unusual shape of the A, characteristic of Late Antique and early medieval scripts, can be seen much more clearly in this photo by Kalervo Koskimies, whose page on the Basilica Julia includes a second game board there as well.

Images with borders lead to more information.
The thicker the border, the more information. (Details here.)

UP TO:

[image ALT: Link to Platner and Ashby's Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome]

Basilica
Julia

Roman Forum

Rome

Italy

Europe

Home

A page or image on this site is in the public domain ONLY if its URL has a total of one *asterisk. If the URL has two **asterisks, the item is copyright someone else, and used by permission or fair use. If the URL has none the item is © Bill Thayer.