Pompeii Preserved Woman's Love Poem

One of the longest and most elaborate surviving pieces of graffiti from Pompeii is a love poem written in the voice of a woman yearning for another woman. Known as CIL 4.5296, the nine-verse poem praises the beloved's "little arms" and "tender little lips" before turning to sleepless longing and the uncertainty of love. Discovered in 1888, it may be the only surviving love poem from the ancient Latin-speaking world written from one woman to another.

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