If you were always intimidated by how sophisticated, well mannered and graceful our grandparents and great grandparents were, this stone-carving at a UNESCO World Heritage site will make you rethink your convictions. Hadrian’s Wall, also known as the Roman Wall, used to be a defence fort of the Roman province of Britannia. While Julius Caesar and Mark Antony might come to mind when you do think of ancient Romans – men so engulfed in protecting honour that they would give their life – a certain carving, ‘drawing’ of the penis, but let’s use the euphemism ‘eggplant graffiti’ , at Hadrian’s Wall strips away all that honour.
This is, clearly, not the first time that a genital impression has been found. For centuries people have carved obscene impressions on stones, on tablets and nearly everywhere – most of them to amplify fertility – this is a peculiar discovery. That’s because, like most of us now, the ancestor who drew this penis had anger issues. Beside the giant genital are written the words ‘SECVNDINVS CACOR’. If we translate this to present-day English, the meaning goes ‘SECUNDINUS THE SH*TTER’. Whoever Secundum was, we do wonder if he had done something vile enough to earn a rude name and a penis – all to be seen by the public.
Dylan Herbert, the biochemist who discovered this slab said, “It looked from the back like all the others, a very ordinary stone, but when I turned it over, I was startled to see some clear letters. Only after we removed the mud did I realize the full extent of what I’d uncovered, and I was absolutely delighted.”
Delighted by the hateful inscription and the questionable genital, you hear that?
We are sure Secundinus didn’t feel the same way when he saw an eggplant graffiti dedicated to him.
Ouch!
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