A Kazakh tourist is in trouble after he was caught carving his name, ‘Ali,’ on an ancient wall in Pompeii.
The man was reportedly caught red-handed damaging one of the walls. He was stopped while he was engraving the letters “ALI” on light plaster in the House of the Ceii, an ancient villa that probably belonged to the magistrate Lucius Ceius Secundus.
The Italian authorities have said that the man will be made to pay for restoration work to be carried out on the wall to remove the graffiti after he was reported to the police.
The park director, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, said: “An uncivilised act. Thanks to the new law supported by Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano, the perpetrator of the crime will have to pay for the restoration of the wall.
“Well done to the ministry collaborators and the Ales company who promptly intervened. Excellent collaboration with the police, who we thank for their promptness.”
The Pompeii Archaeological Park says on its website that the House of the Ceii is “one of the rare examples of ancient dwellings in the late-Samnite period (2nd century BC).”
They also say: “Upon entering the house one notices the impluvium bath which is made of fragments of amphorae set on edge, a common technique used in Greece and attested in Pompeii also in the House of the Ancient Hunt.
“The back wall in the small garden is decorated with wild animals, a highly successful theme in the decoration of open areas.
“The side walls depict Egyptian-style landscapes with animals of the Nile Delta, which probably indicated a link between the owner of the house and the cult of Isis, widespread in Pompeii in the last years of the life of the city.”
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Story By: Joseph Golder, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash
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