Programmata were painted political campaign notices in the ancient Roman empire. These were a common sight in Pompeii in its heyday, and provide us an invaluable insight into the intricacies of Roman and specifically Pompeiian politics at the time of Mount Vesuvius’ eruption. In a study of over 1,500 programmata, 128 were found to give names of candidates for various (and sometimes more than one) political office (Viitanen & Nissin, 2017).
Sources & Further Reading:
Viitanen, E.-M., & Nissin, L. (2017). Campaigning for votes in ancient Pompeii: Contextualizing electoral programmata. In Berti, I., Bolle, K., Opdenhoff, F., & Stroth, F. (Ed.), Writing Matters (pp. 117-144). De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110534597-006
Campbell, V. (2016, September 9). Initialising. Pompeiian connections: Networks in Pompeii and the Roman world. https://pompeiinetworks.wordpress.com/2016/09/09/initialising/
Flashback Journey to Pompeii. (2017, July 24). Politics and election campaigns in Pompeii. Flashback journey to Pompeii. http://journeytopompeiiblog.weebly.com/blog/politics-and-election-campaigns-in-pompeii
Berry, J. (2007). The complete Pompeii. Thames and Hudson.
Instagram image: Campbell, V. (2016, September 9). Initialising. Pompeiian connections: Networks in Pompeii and the Roman world. https://pompeiinetworks.wordpress.com/2016/09/09/initialising/
Colloquialist History 