A Dutch tourist has defaced a frescoed wall in an ancient Roman house in Herculaneum, near Naples, damaging a building that survived the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, Italian police said on Monday.

The police statement said the 27-year-old tourist was swiftly identified after staff at the archaeological site discovered tagged graffiti writing made with a black, indelible marker pen on a white section of a painted wall.

Police said the writing was the man’s graffiti signature.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldMEnglish
    14·
    5 months ago

    What’s funny is that we’ve learned a huge amount about Roman culture from the graffiti in Pompeii and Herculaneum.

    A lot of it was just filthy stuff- https://kashgar.com.au/blogs/history/the-bawdy-graffiti-of-pompeii-and-herculaneu

    But there was a lot of tamer stuff too- http://ancientgraffiti.org/Graffiti/

    My favorite of all is actually, “it took 640 paces to walk back and forth between here and there ten times” because I imagine it to be some teenager’s punishment.

  • Decq@lemmy.worldEnglish
    148·
    5 months ago

    €40k is too little of a punishment. Let him tag the inside of a prison cell for a year, see if he stills enjoys it after that. And then add the clean up costs on top of that 40k and we are talking.

    • RubberDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
      152·
      5 months ago

      Yeah, and public lashes!

      Seriously, 40k is a fuck ton of money for normal people, it is a life altering amount of extra debt to carry. Don’t go around making light of such a punishment.

      I personally think there should be more fitting punishment for these kind of crimes, as for a rich person this is nothing and for normal people it is maybe even too harsh. Regardless it won’t teach them what you want to teach. I’d probably go for a very hefty community service punishment, that can nessecarily be done in your home country (if possible)… but that’s me.

      • Decq@lemmy.worldEnglish
        92·
        5 months ago

        Might be a fuck ton of money. Buts he is 27 years old, so old enough to know ramifications. What he vandalized is priceless so, yes I still think the 40k is too little. If nothing else I hope we won’t ever allow this little shit to ever leave the country again. I’m ashamed to be of the same country as this fuck face.

        • RubberDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
          62·
          5 months ago

          I’m not saying he could not have known better. im not saying he should not be punished.
          I’m not saying the punishment should be light.

          The punishment is not just revenge, or at least should not be. It should be a punishment that teaches you to not do it again and thus avoid recidivism. And it should be equal to all. And possibly compensate for restauration. This punishment isnt any of those. Hence I think it is an unjust punishment.

          If some would have to spend let’s say 400 hours of community service… that would be every workday for 10 weeks… but more likely every free Saturday for a year. Hell I even think 1000 hours would be acceptable, especially if every shift would start by making someone state out loud why they have to do this.

          I’m for punishments that fit the crime… so make the community service grafitty clean up or cleaning other things.

          • Blizzard@lemmy.zipEnglish
            53·
            5 months ago

            He’s done irreversible damage to a pricless part of history. Paying that amount for damages is one thing, I think jail time should go along with it. The punishment should not only be there to teach him a lesson and help fund restoration of those damages, it should be harsh enough to discourage other people from following hia steps. Jail time + paying for damages seems more fitting.

            • RubberDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
              41·
              5 months ago

              I doubt it is irreversible, but I guess we disagree on the use of jail. I personally think jail should be for violent people and people that are harmful to society.

              I see you could argue the second, but I find it overkill. I’d much rather see that an offence like this is punished with service to society.

              If you really want to deter him and other people from doing it again, chop of his hand and stick it on a pike near the crime…

              The whole “punish someone with jail and make it as miserable as possible” is something I associate with 3rd world countries, dictatorships and the US.

              I’d much rather people like this are taught a resonating message using the right community service that also saves on taxpayer money and not cost 280 a day (or over 100K for your suggested 1 year revenge scentence).

              • Transporter Room 3@startrek.websiteEnglish
                21·
                5 months ago

                “so what are you in for?”

                “I wrote my tag on an important wall. You?”

                “I murdered my entire family when my wife overcooked my fish”

                “I can tell we will be friends, we’re birds of a feather.”

      • Transporter Room 3@startrek.websiteEnglish
        5·
        5 months ago

        Honestly a 40k fine for me might as well be life-ending. Possibly self-inflicted, depending on my mental state at the time.

        Community service makes much more sense.

        I’d make him do like 5 hours of CS for every year since the archeology site was inhabited, and 200 hours for every offence. The older the site, the more you have to work off. The more you deface, the more you work off.

        I mean, those are just random numbers I pulled out of my ass but you get the idea.