pasquinade

pasquinade, brief and generally anonymous satirical comment in prose or verse that ridicules a contemporary leader or national event. Pasquinade is derived from “Pasquino,” the popular name for the remains of an ancient Roman statue unearthed in Rome in 1501. “Pasquino,” supposedly named after a local shopkeeper near whose house or shop the statue was discovered, was the focus for bitingly critical political squibs attached to its torso by anonymous satirists. These pasquinades and their imitations, some ascribed to important 16th-century writers such as Aretino, were collected and published. After the 16th century the vogue of posting pasquinades died out, and the term acquired its more general meaning.