Violent doodles made by children 2,000 years ago raise eyebrows

Archaeologists in Italy recently uncovered "violent" cartoons, roughly 2,000 years old, drawn by children in ancient Rome.

The Archaeological Park of Pompeii announced the discovery on May 28. The doodles were found on a wall along Via dell'Abbondanza, which was the main street of Pompeii.

Pompeii is an ancient Roman city that was buried by volcanic ash during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD and largely remained hidden for centuries before it was officially rediscovered in the late 16th century.

The charcoal drawings depict gladiators and hunters, and historians say that children were regularly exposed to violence in Roman amphitheaters. In a statement translated from Italian to English, archaeologists connected the violence that children witnessed in antiquity to gruesome images that children see today in popular media.

"Exposure to extreme forms of violence, even of young children (estimated between 5 and 7 years old), does not seem to be a problem only nowadays, between video games and social media," the organization said. 

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The Archaeological Park of Pompeii announced the discovery of the unusual ancient doodles on May 28. (@pompeiiparcoarcheologico via Facebook)

"The difference [is] that in antiquity, the blood spilled in the arena was real and that few saw it as a 'problem' with all the possible repercussions on the psycho-mental development of children from Pompeii."

In a video posted by the Archaeological Park of Pompeii on May 29, archaeologist Gabriel Zuchtriegel explained in Italian that the cartoons were found in a courtyard, where children likely played.

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The drawings depict hunters and gladiators, according to archaeologists. (@pompeiiparcoarcheologico via Facebook)

"We can imagine the children who played here for entire afternoons and had the possibility of making these drawings, perhaps unnoticed by the adults, on various parts of the walls where there was also a construction site where work was in progress on this house," he explained.

Archaeologists collaborated with University of Naples Federico II to determine the significance of the images. Experts concluded that the images reflected what children saw in real life rather than in art or in their imaginations.

Psychologists determined that the children who drew the drawings were exposed to real-life violence. (@pompeiiparcoarcheologico via Facebook)

"We came to the conclusion that these drawings of gladiators and animal hunters were made after a direct vision of the facts, not after a pictorial model," Zuchtriegel said in a video that was later translated to English. "And they are very young children of 6 or 7 years old, as can be seen from the human figures drawn as cephalopods, that is, the legs and arms that come directly out of the head. Even today, little children draw like this."

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"It is understood that here in Pompeii, even very young children were exposed to an extreme form of violence between men, between men and animals in the arena, in the amphitheater of the ancient city," the expert added.

The drawings shed light on childhood in ancient Rome. (@pompeiiparcoarcheologico via Facebook)

Thanks to the discovery, the Archaeological Park of Pompeii said the drawings "help to better understand childhood in the times of Ancient Romans."

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Fox News Digital reached out to the Archaeological Park of Pompeii for comment.

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Andrea Vacchiano is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. You can follow her on X at @andrea_vacch or send story tips to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..