103 Article: Vandals and Graffiti

From the very beginning of humanity, people have marked their presence with murals on the walls, whether they are religious in nature or simply representations of everyday life. The oldest discovered cave paintings date back to 40,000 BC, in the Paleolithic era. However, human nature has not changed over the next millennia, and we find similar behavior on every continent.

Today, however, we do not want to describe Greek, Egyptian or Persian paintings, but we are going to focus on two recently discovered inscriptions in the Hagia Sophia.

Both were engraved on one of the walls of the temple. During subsequent medieval renovations, these inscriptions were covered with plaster, pigment and paintings. They were discovered by accident only two months ago.

"ᛖᛗᛈᛖᚱᛟᚱ ᛏᚺᛖᛟᛈᚺᛁᛚᚢᛋ ᚠᚢᚲᚴᛋ ᛋᚺᛖᛖᛈ"

The first is an unrefined joke about the Byzantine Emperor. Which means...

"Emperor Theophilus fucks sheep"

The second inscription below reveals the identity of the author of the first vulgar inscription.

"ᚴᛁᚾᚷ ᚢᛚᚠ ᚨᚾᛞ ᛩᚢᛖᛖᚾ ᛚᚨᚷᛖᚱᛏᚺᚨ ᚹᛖᚱᛖ ᚺᛖᚱᛖ"

"King Ulf and Queen Lagertha were here"

The inscription clearly indicates that it was made by Ulf Erikson or his wife, although we know from the chronicles that a similar sense of humor was attributed to King Ulf himself.

We do not know the exact circumstances of these inscriptions, nor the exact date, but this is further evidence of how far the Vikings went on their ships.