Writing on the Wall: Graffiti and the Forgotten Jews of Antiquity

311 Pages·2018·56.47 MB·English

by  Karen B. Stern

Writing on the Wall

Writing on the Wall
GRAFFITI AND THE FORGOTTEN JEWS OF ANTIQUITY
Karen B. Stern
Princeton University Press
Princeton and Oxford
Copyright © 2018 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press,
41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press,
6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TR
press.princeton.edu
Jacket image: Carving of menorah from a doorway inside a burial cave in the
Necropolis of Beit Sheʾarim, Israel. Photo by Ezra Gabbay
All Rights Reserved
ISBN 978‑0‑691‑16133‑4
Library of Congress Control Number 2018936572
British Library Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data is available
Publication of this book has been aided by a grant from the von Bothmer
Publication Fund of the Archaeological Institute of America
This book has been composed in Adobe Garamond Pro and Gotham
Printed on acid‑free paper ∞
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For my mother Barbara
and
For Ezra

CONTENTS
Illustrations ix
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xvii
Abbreviations xxi
INTRODUCTION Graffiti, Ancient and Modern 1
CHAPTER 1 Carving Graffiti as Devotion 35
CHAPTER 2 Mortuary Graffiti in the Roman East 80
CHAPTER 3 Making One’s Mark in a Pagan and Christian World 141
CHAPTER 4 Rethinking Modern Graffiti through Ancient 169
Notes 177
References 239
Index 269

lIST OF IllUSTRATIONS
ILLUSTRATIONS
I.1 Banksy mural on West 79th Street and Broadway in New
York City, USA.
I.2 Political stencil from Jaffa, Israel.
I.3 Anti‑Nazi graffiti on wall in downtown Erfurt, Germany.
I.4 Dedicatory inscription from floor mosaic of Susiya
Synagogue in Susiya, West Bank.
I.5 Shutter portrait of Rabbi Yosef Hayim ben Eliyahu of
Baghdad (a.k.a. Ben Ish Ḥai) in Mahane Yehudah market,
Jerusalem, Israel.
I.6 Tags on abandoned storefront in Lower East Side, New
York City.
I.7 Menorah and showbread graffiti in Israel Museum in
Jerusalem, Israel.
1.1 Dipinti and graffiti on columns of façade of Church of the
Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
1.2 Graffiti of crosses along the stairway to St. Vartan’s Chapel
in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
1.3 West wall of the Dura‑Europos Assembly Hall in situ
following excavation in Syria.
1.4 Aramaic memorial graffito from the Dura‑Europos synagogue.
1.5 Greek memorial graffito from the Dura‑Europos synagogue.
1.6 Aramaic memorial dipinto and accompanying picture from
the Dura‑Europos synagogue.
1.7 Dedicatory inscription painted onto ceiling tile from Dura‑
Europos synagogue.
1.8 Detail of Persian scribal dipinti on mural depicting the
Triumph of Mordechai from the assembly hall of the Dura‑
Europos synagogue.