THERMOPOLIUM - POMPEII

Walking further down Via dell’Abbondanza in the direction of the Porta di Sarno Gate, we reach Pompeii’s equivalent of a ‘fast-food’ restaurant, where warm meals could be bought and eaten on the spot. Coins for a total weight of about 3 kg, equivalent in worth to about 680 sesterces, were found in one of the wall recesses. Given the large quantity of change (374 asses and 1,237 quadrantes, each worth one of quarter of an as), these were probably the takings of a single day’s business. The shop is completed by a sacellum dedicated to Mercury and Dionysus and a small shrine for the tutelary deities of the household. The publican’s own apartment extended to the rear of the shop and was reached through an independent entrance door which opened onto a narrow side street. A magnificent specimen of late 3rd style decoration can be seen in the triclinium.

 

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This building is situated along the west side of the Civic Forum to the north of the Temple of Apollo. An open portico, it faces on the Forum square and on the façade has eight large piers in brick which frame eight entrances. It was to house the warehouses and the grain market, but it had not yet been finished when the eruption of 79 A.D. struck. The internal walls are of rough masonry with no trace of intonaco and the roof had not yet been built. At present covered by a modern shed roof and closed by a gate, the portico is used as the storeroom for the archaeological finds. It contains a large quantity of amphoras and pottery of daily use, oil presses, capitals an ... continue

(Apic. 6, 2, 1) Ingredients:

• 1 large duck
• 1 l water
• bunch of dill
• Olive oil (or 50 g butter)
• Liquamen (or, in this case, duck stock)
• 2 sprigs of oregano finely chopped
• bunch of coriander
• 100 ml defritum (or red wine boiled)
• large pinch of black peppercorns
• large pinch of lovage (or celery seed)
• large pinch of cumin
• large pinch of coriander seeds
• 1 laser root (or garlic)
• Sprig of rue (or rosemary)
• Caroenum (wine reduced of 1/3 plus honey)
• Honey ... continue

Love was a common topic of conversation in Pompeii. Feelings, passions, poetic love, sex, homosexuality, prostitution and so forth were all part of daily life and not a source of prejudice. The concept of “obscenity” seems to have been unknown. Love and sex were considered earthly practices of a man’s life that were encouraged by the benevolence of Venus. The thousands of examples of graffiti found on the town’s walls are unequivocal proof of what the people of Pompeii thought about love and sex.