The Writings on the Wall: From Greek Alphabet to Painter’s Signature, The Inscriptions on the Roman Wall-paintings of the Liberty, Southwark, London

Abstract The excavations at Liberty Southwark (LDM21) carried out by Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) have yielded one of the largest assemblages of Roman wall-painted plaster in London. In the assessment and reassembling of the plasters, the building material specialist discovered two inscriptions unique to Roman Britain and likely to the study of Roman wall paintings in general. Pit (423) yielded what looks to be a signature by the painter while (135) produced a near-complete Greek alphabet scored into the plaster. Both inscriptions were analysed in the greater context of the Roman world in which comparisons of similar inscriptions were made.