Writing and Personal Religion in Pompeii and Herculaneum

At Herculaneum and Pompeii writing was integrated into the environment of sacred spaces. This article identifies personal inscriptions and examines how we can assess those writings to understand religious life in the ancient city. The primary focus of crossroad shrines was prayer and neighbourhood sacrifice; material evidence confirms these activities but also points to broad communication among community members. Household shrines sometimes featured writing and could function as a locus for memory. Finally, written examples of personal prayers provide rare perspectives onto how and where an individual might inscribe a petition to a god. Literacy underpins these writings across the ancient city.