Electoral inscriptions found inside Pompeii house

Political inscriptions have been found inside a home in Pompeii. Inscriptions were usually found on exterior facades of buildings.

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The team discovered electoral inscriptions in support of Aulus Rustius Verus, a candidate for the position of aedile. Aediles were in charge of maintaining public buildings (aedēs) and regulating public festivals. The office of the aediles was typically held by young men aspiring to high political office, traditionally after their quaestorship but before their praetorship.

 Aulus Rustius Verus’s name appears in other inscriptions and is known in Pompeii for having held the highest public office in the city in the seventies of the 1st century AD, along with Giulio Polibius, owner of a splendid house on the Avenue of Abundance. , that of duovirea degree that was accessed after having been aedile, so archaeologists deduce that the newly discovered inscriptions are ancient and that Aulus Rustius Verus probably won those elections.

 

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According to the press announcement: “Normally, these writings are found on the external facades of buildings, where the people could read the names of the candidates for the city’s magistrates. The presence inside the home was likely for events such as dinners to support candidates with the aim of promoting the campaign electoral to their guests”

The house owner was apparently a supporter of Aulus Rustius Verus, further evidenced with the discovery of a millstone placed in the atrium of the house inscribed with the candidates initials, ARV.

 

https://www.heritagedaily.com/2023/09/electoral-inscriptions-found-in-pompeii-house/148739

https://arkeonews.net/electoral-inscriptions-discovered-in-pompeii-reveal-clientelism-in-ancient-rome/