The graffiti were written in an obscure form of Old Arabic otherwise completely unknown in the Western Mediterranean. For almost 35 years they were a mystery: Who wrote them?
, offers a brilliant solution. Up until now the working hypothesis for their existence has been long-distance trade. The explanation has a ring of truth to it and is certainly credible. But it is as easy as it is logical: If you find something out of place in the ancient world it was surely brought there from somewhere else.
The reason for the association is partly contextual. The Safaitic graffiti are not alone; they are tucked among the crush of inscriptions that adorn the theater wall. The inscriptions there are a diverse group: images of boats, animals, and gladiators jostle for position alongside bathroom stall-style boasts of group sex, prayers to Venus, and more banal assertions of presence.
This is crucial, writes Helms, because III Gallica arrived in Italy after spending almost a century in Syria, “the distant homeland of writers of Safaitic.” They were called to Italy when they marched in support of the future Emperor Vespasian, who successfullyfrom his predecessor Vitellius. They spent some time billeted in Capua, at the expense of local aristocrats who had supported Vitellius rather than Vespasian. They were finally dispatched home in 70.
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