Spoken Past

Pompeii

Articles tagged Pompeii.

Roman fullers working with cloth in a Pompeii laundry, showing how urine helped clean clothes

Roman Fullers: Did Rome Use Urine to Clean Their Clothes?

May 03-By Caiden Pannell

Roman fullers used stale urine in laundry because its chemistry helped lift grease, revealing the practical logic behind Rome’s smelliest trade.

Roman Fresco Painting Techniques

Roman Fresco Painting: How Pompeii’s Art Was Made

Oct 15, 2025-By Caiden Pannell

Roman fresco painting techniques applied pigment to wet lime plaster, creating durable masterpieces at Pompeii through buon fresco and secco methods.

Ancient Graffiti Voices of the Forgotten

Pompeii Graffiti: Insults, Sex, and Roman Daily Life

Aug 21, 2025-By Caiden Pannell

Pompeii graffiti preserves insults, jokes, desire, politics, and ordinary Roman speech. The walls reveal daily life beyond elite literature.

Erotic wall painting in the Lupanar at Pompeii, showing a couple on a bed.

Erotic Art in Pompeii: What Romans Really Saw

Aug 10, 2025-By Caiden Pannell

Erotic imagery was everywhere in Pompeii, from doorways and bakeries to the House of the Vettii and the Lupanar, and it served purposes far...