Weep you girls

I was looking at a page of graffiti from Pompeii and found it quite fascinating.

It probably loses something in the translation from latin. Some of the writings are describing very earthy acts but using formal-sounding language. For example: (From the House of the Centenary, in the atrium)

My lusty son, with how many women have you had sexual relations?

Here are a few which caught the eye:

Two friends were here. While they were, they had bad service in every way from a guy named Epaphroditus. They threw him out and spent 105 and half sestertii most agreeably on whores.

Apollinaris, the doctor of the emperor Titus, defecated well here

Antiochus hung out here with his girlfriend Cithera.

Restitutus has deceived many girls.

Restitutus says: “Restituta, take off your tunic, please, and show us your hairy privates"

Restitutas seemed to get around a bit!

Its funny how some of it is little different to what you might find on walls today. There is a lot of "X loves Y" and "A did such-and-such to B" in there. A lot of bragging about sexual adventures, but the ancient Roman graffiti actually seems to be more explicit and obscene than modern graffiti through its very frankness.

You might think that "My lusty son" from the first quote would make a good name for a band, and you might be right, but if you want a great name for a band you want this piece of writing from the bar/brothel of Innulus and Papilio:

Weep, you girls. My penis has given you up. Now it penetrates men’s behinds. Goodbye, wondrous femininity!

Weep You Girls would be a gay band. Something like the Scissor Sisters. The name is perfect because its roots are in a quote from someone giving up girls and turning to men, but the name on its own is quite innocent and innocuous. There would also be a bit of intellectual cachet in having taken the name from an ancient Roman scribble.