**An in-depth archaeological report
featuring graffiti found during a recent excavation at the Ancient Greek
city
of Smyrna.
**
The graffiti published in this richly-illustrated volume were discovered
during an excavation of the Roman basilica in the Ancient Greek city of
Smyrna, known today as Izmir, which is situated on the Aegean coast of
modern Turkey. The project, which began in 2003, has unearthed a
multitude of graffiti and drawings encompassing a wide range of subjects
and interests, including local politics, nautical vessels, sex, and
wordplay.
Each graffito artifact holds the potential for vast historical and
cultural data, rescued in this volume from the passage of time and
razing ambitions of urban development. Given the city's history, the
potential wealth of knowledge to be gleamed from these discoveries is
substantial: Smyrna has an uninterrupted history of settlement since the
Neolithic-Copper ages, and remains today a major city and Mediterranean
seaport at the crossroads of key trade routes.
The present volume provides comprehensive editions of the texts,
descriptions of the drawings, and an extensive introduction to the
subjects of the graffiti, how they were produced, and who was
responsible for them. A complete set of color photographs is included.