Is there Latin in your area?
A crowdsourced public history project collecting Latin inscriptions on the island of Ireland.
Our island and its inhabitants have a long history with Latin, the language of the ancient Roman empire. From the saints and scholars of the medieval period through to contemporary pop culture, Latin has had a presence here in every century. You can find it on streets, monuments, and gravestones across all thirty-two counties.
To get involved, take a picture of some Latin in your local area - on a building or monument, on a wall or grave - and send it in.
Memorials …
The Romans, like the Greeks before them, commemorated the dead with monuments of stone. These monuments tell us something about the life of the deceased, and they can still be found in large numbers across the old territories of the Roman empire. Because of the influence of Rome, stone inscriptions in Latin continued to be a means of commemoration across Europe until modern times.
… and messages
People in the ancient Roman empire also wrote all over their walls, that’s if the evidence from Pompeii and Herculaneum is anything to go by - two towns which were buried in an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. Election notices, love letters, advertisements and abuse, alongside signs and doodles. This is another, less formal, kind of ‘inscription’, which by its nature survives much more rarely today.
From Rome to Ireland
This project stems from a curiosity about what kind of Latin inscriptions exist in Ireland. The memorial kind are definitely there; you can find them in churches and graveyards up and down the country. Latin still features occasionally in graffiti and other kinds of ‘inscription’ too, though in much smaller numbers. By asking members of the public for their help, I hope to get people thinking about local history and heritage, and to discover a bit more about Latin’s role in Irish history.
Submit your photo!
Once you have your photo, please complete the form below and attach your photo to submit. Alternatively, you can post it to instagram and tag @inscriptioneshibernicae. I will translate it for you and with your permission feature it on this website. Only the location of your image will appear online; your personal details will not be shared publicly at any stage.