LAST SUPPER IN POMPEII by ACC Art Books

ROBERTS · LAST SUPPER IN POMPEII

Paul Roberts is the Keeper of Antiquities at the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, Oxford University. He studied at the Universities of Cambridge, Sheffield and Oxford and lived in Italy for several years. He has excavated in Britain, Greece, Libya, Turkey and in particular Italy. His research focuses on the day-today lives of ordinary people in the Greek and Roman worlds. From 1994 to 2014 he was Roman Curator in the Department of Greece and Rome at the British Museum, where he curated the exhibition Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum (2013).

L A ST SUPPER IN POMPEII

LAST SUPPER IN

POMPEII

When the ash from Mount Vesuvius began raining down on Pompeii and its countryside in AD 79, people were engaged in typical daily activities. Many of these revolved around food and drink – farming, buying and selling wine and foodstuffs and consuming them, in many different places and different ways. Located in the sunny paradise of southern Italy, Pompeii was sandwiched between the lush vineyard-covered slopes of Vesuvius and fertile plains to one side and the bountiful waters of the Bay of Naples to the other. The city produced more wine, fish-sauce and other goods than it could consume and exported its products across the Mediterranean. Those interested in Roman culture are blessed by the large amount of evidence from Roman writers, who seem to have been particularly interested in food and drink. But to gain a true idea of what this meant to every level of society we must turn also to archaeology, and the results of new research in Italy and Britain are presented here, much of it for the first time in a public forum. Pompeii gives an unparalleled glimpse of how life was lived in the Roman Empire and is an incredible portal to the ancient Roman World: everything from the exquisite mosaics found in the villas of the wealthy to the remains sieved from kitchen drains reveals what the people of Pompeii loved to eat and drink, and how they did so. This book will tell the story of the Roman love affair with food and wine and how their production, consumption and distribution coloured every aspect of Roman life and art.

Front cover: Marble statue of Bacchus with a wine cup. Naples Museum, MANN 6316 Mosaic panel from a dining room showing Death as a grinning skeleton holding wine jugs. Naples Museum, MANN 9978 Back cover: Mosaic panel, showing marine creatures. Pompeii, VIII 2, 16. Naples Museum, MANN 120177, photo © The Trustees of the British Museum

Contents Last Supper in Pompeii Ashmolean Museum, 25 July 2019–12 January 2020 Copyright © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, 2019 Paul Roberts, Judith Toms, Angela Trentacoste, Francesco Uliano Scelza, Massimo Osanna, Lisa Lodwick, Mark Robinson, Giuseppe Scarpati, Maria Laura Iadanza, Grete Stefani, R. S. O. Tomlin, and Alison Pollard have asserted their moral rights to be identified as the authors of this work.

The exhibition is organised in collaboration with the Ministero dei Beni e delle Attivita Culturali e del Turismo of Italy. The exhibition has generously been supported by

With additional support from:

British Library Cataloguing in Publications Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 978-1-910807-30-9 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any storage and retrieval system, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. Catalogue designed by Stephen Hebron Printed and bound in Belgium by Albe de Coker

The William Delafield Charitable Trust The Stockman Family Foundation Patrons of the Ashmolean Museum The Helen Roll Charity Professor Gillies McKenna and Professor Ruth Muschel Charles and Alison Young The late Miss Cecil Western Mr John and Mrs Margaret Leighfield

Forewords 6 Acknowledgements 10 Pompeii and the Bay of Naples, ad 79 13 Paul Roberts, Introduction

Judith Toms, Dining and the Etruscans

Angela Trentacoste, Food for the Living and the Dead in Etruscan Italy

Francesco Uliano Scelza, Paestum and its Food

Massimo Osanna, The Sanctuary of Fondo Iozzino at Pompeii

Paul Roberts and Mark Robinson, Food and Drink for the City

Giuseppe Scarpati, A Commercial Complex in the Pompeian suburbium 66 Paul Roberts, Shops and Bars

Maria Laura Iadanza, The Bronze Vessels from the House of the Lararium of Hercules

Paul Roberts, Atrium

Frontispiece: detail of Fig.146

The exhibition audio guide is made possible with support from The Lucinus Trust

Paul Roberts, Garden

111

For further details of Ashmolean titles please visit: www.ashmolean.org/shop

We thank the Archaeological Park of Pompeii and the National Archaeological Museum of Naples for their generosity and support.

Paul Roberts, Dining

127

Grete Stefani, The triclinium of the House of the Golden Bracelet

156

Paul Roberts, Kitchens and Toilets

163

Lisa Lodwick and Mark Robinson, Britannia

181

We are most grateful to all our lenders, who are supporting our exhibition with objects: Parco Archeologico di Pompei Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli Parco Archeologico di Paestum Museum of London Archaeology The Trustees of the British Museum University of Reading, Department of Archaeology Museum of London Grosvenor Museum, West Cheshire Museums Reading Museum and Town Hall Corinium Museum Cirencester And private collections

R. S. O. Tomlin, The Bloomberg London Writing Tablets

204

Paul Roberts, Death and Dining

207

Paul Roberts, Death and Oplontis

213

Giuseppe Scarpati, The ‘Resin Lady’ from Oplontis in Context

218

Mark Robinson, Houses, Gardens and Feeding the Household Gods

227

Mark Robinson, The Archaeology of Food Remains from Latrines at Pompeii

244

Alison Pollard, Catalogue of objects and organic samples

252

Notes 277 Bibliography 281 Street Plan of Pompeii 288 Index 289

The exhibition is organised in collaboration with the Ministero dei Beni e delle Attivita Culturali e del Turismo of Italy. The exhibition has generously been supported by

With additional support from:

Forewords 6 Acknowledgements 10 Pompeii and the Bay of Naples, ad 79 13 Paul Roberts, Introduction

Judith Toms, Dining and the Etruscans

Angela Trentacoste, Food for the Living and the Dead in Etruscan Italy

Francesco Uliano Scelza, Paestum and its Food

Massimo Osanna, The Sanctuary of Fondo Iozzino at Pompeii

Paul Roberts and Mark Robinson, Food and Drink for the City

Giuseppe Scarpati, A Commercial Complex in the Pompeian suburbium 66 Paul Roberts, Shops and Bars

Maria Laura Iadanza, The Bronze Vessels from the House of the Lararium of Hercules

Paul Roberts, Atrium

Frontispiece: detail of Fig.146

The exhibition audio guide is made possible with support from The Lucinus Trust

Paul Roberts, Garden

111

For further details of Ashmolean titles please visit: www.ashmolean.org/shop

We thank the Archaeological Park of Pompeii and the National Archaeological Museum of Naples for their generosity and support.

Paul Roberts, Dining

127

Grete Stefani, The triclinium of the House of the Golden Bracelet

156

Paul Roberts, Kitchens and Toilets

163

Lisa Lodwick and Mark Robinson, Britannia

181

R. S. O. Tomlin, The Bloomberg London Writing Tablets

204

Paul Roberts, Death and Dining

207

Paul Roberts, Death and Oplontis

213

Giuseppe Scarpati, The ‘Resin Lady’ from Oplontis in Context

218

Mark Robinson, Houses, Gardens and Feeding the Household Gods

227

Mark Robinson, The Archaeology of Food Remains from Latrines at Pompeii

244

Alison Pollard, Catalogue of objects and organic samples

252

Notes 277 Bibliography 281 Street Plan of Pompeii 288 Index 289

Director’s Foreword Alexander Sturgis, Ashmolean Museum

The Ashmolean brings together hugely varied collections and through them tells stories that make links across cultures and time. Last Supper in Pompeii explores similar themes of cross-cultural influence and appropriation through focusing on the Romans’ intense relationship with food and drink. The Roman Empire was the original melting pot, with free movement of people, goods and ideas. Culture, art and practices were often adopted and adapted from others, such as the Etruscans and the Greeks, and then broadcast through the empire. In Chester, in far-flung Britannia, Curatia Dinysia’s tombstone shows her reclining on a couch, a glass of wine in hand, banqueting into the afterlife. An Etruscan from Tuscany, Italy, strikes just the same pose – four centuries earlier. In Pompeii a fresco shows similar poses with a banquet underway, the drink flowing and singing about to begin. These are familiar worldly pleasures although as the Pompeian mosaic of a skeleton bearing wine jugs reminds us, they may be short-lived. The idea that we should eat, drink and be merry in the shadow of death is not an exclusively Roman idea, but nowhere has it been more dramatically and shockingly realised than in the shadow of Vesuvius. The cataclysmic eruption of AD 79 cut the party off in full swing and under the falling ash created the extraordinary archaeological sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Nowhere else reveals the full texture of life as it was lived in the Roman Empire in all its sophistication and mundanity, and this exhibition could not have been realised without the exceptionally generous loans from Pompeii and Naples Museum. Among these treasures are the wall paintings and accoutrements from a grand dining-room, a loaf from a Pompeian oven, the cooking pots from a kitchen, the amphorae and wine jugs from a bar, the waste from a sewer and finally the tragic resin cast of a Pompeiian lady, who died in the eruption. We may not store dormouse jars in our larders but while such objects make clear our differences, we can still recognise ourselves in the Roman enjoyment of food and drink and the culture that surrounded them. At a time when debate around the validity of a wider European reality and its political and cultural influence and relevance has never been fiercer, it is even more important that intra-European projects like this should happen. So we are even more indebted than usual to our Italian colleagues for their generous support and vision. I would in particular like to thank our friends and collaborators from the Parco Archeologico di Pompei, the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, the Parco Archeologico di Paestum, the Villa of Oplontis and Boscoreale 6

archaeological site and Antiquarium. Closer to home we have been generously supported by many British lenders both institutional and private who are all owed thanks, with Museum of London Archaeology, The British Museum and the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, being particularly generous. An exhibition of this scope and ambition could not have been realised without the generosity of the many who have supported our endeavour and to whom I am most grateful. I am particularly happy to partner for the first time with Intesa Sanpaolo, an Italian bank with a deep and enlightened history of support for culture and the arts and which has one of its roots in Naples. Their generosity towards the exhibition continues and extends their relationship with the University of Oxford with whom they have established a strategic partnership supporting research at the Centre for Corporate Reputation, Saïd Business School. I extend our heartfelt thanks also to The Stockman Family Foundation who have supported the collaborative conservation project which has seen the Ashmolean conserve a group of objects from Pompeii; The Ruddock Foundation for the Arts; The William Delafield Charitable Trust; the Patrons of the Ashmolean; The Helen Roll Charity; Professor Gillies McKenna and Professor Ruth Muschel; Charles and Alison Young; the late Miss Cecil Western and Mr John and Mrs Margaret Leighfield for their great faith in the project, as well as to The Lucinus Trust for their imaginative support of the audio guide to the exhibition.

Fresco of a bird pecking at fruit. From Oplontis Villa A (The Villa of Poppaea), Oplontis, near Pompeii

Director’s Foreword Alexander Sturgis, Ashmolean Museum

Fresco of a bird pecking at fruit. From Oplontis Villa A (The Villa of Poppaea), Oplontis, near Pompeii

Shops and Bars Paul Roberts

On any given day, but in particular on market days, religious festivals, theatre or games days, a myriad of carts, wagons, donkeys, mules and slaves, laden with produce from nearby estates and farms, the Sarno river port and places further afield, approached the city. They then passed through the gates into the busy streets (Fig.63), their basalt-slabbed surface bearing characteristic wheel ruts caused by the constant passage of carts and wagons over centuries. Pompeii was thronged with people and traffic from the city itself, its hinterland and far beyond. Negotiating its streets was a nightmare.1 Obstructions were everywhere,2 from tethered animals and carts to hawkers and pedlars, even merchandise spilling from shops. People gathered around public fountains and shrines and lingered outside shops and bars; clients waited by the houses of their patrons. Frequent processions for weddings, funerals and festivals took place, as people just lived the Mediterranean outdoor life.3 Traffic did not stop at night – on the contrary, in some cities carts could only enter the city from late afternoon to early morning.4 Such carts could be massive (and dangerous),5 and carters loud, vulgar and noisy.6 The streets were completely lined with buildings, the lower parts of their walls painted in ‘Pompeian’ red and the upper wall often covered with painted electoral notices. Buildings usually rose two storeys in height, sometimes with

62 (opposite) Detail of a fresco showing a well-dressed man distributing bread to the people, perhaps to celebrate an important event or perhaps as a social and electoral bribe. Naples Museum, MANN 9071, photo © The Trustees of the British Museum 63 (right) Via delle Terme, Pompeii. An urban streetscape with a busy road, its surface deeply scored with wheel ruts and characteristic stepping stones. The street is lined with wide-fronted shops.Look / Alamy Stock

70 paul roberts

Shops and Bars Paul Roberts

70 paul roberts

balconies – either open verandahs or enclosed accommodation (maeniana). Many shops and bars had awnings, so streets would have been part-shaded and seemed narrower. Houses and shops jostled for space, and even wealthy houses were flanked by shops and businesses.

Commerce and Commercial Properties Roman writers such as Seneca, Cicero and Juvenal looked down on shops and retail in general7 – although the reality was that in Pompeii, as in many cities, retail at all levels was very important.8 It is likely that commercial properties and their profits and rental income were, along with agricultural land and produce, the basis of wealth for many Pompeians. The conquest of the Greek world had transformed commerce. New sources of goods, new markets in the growing cities and the strong monetary economy9 stimulated demand, while infrastructure projects such as roads, harbours and warehouses increased capacity. Signs of commerce were everywhere in Pompeii, from the market building (macellum) to individual shops (tabernae) and temporary stalls; the city also attracted an army of hawkers and pedlars. Even in the Forum, the heart of politics, religion and administration, the buying and selling of goods was a common sight (Fig.64).10 The most visible commercial elements in Pompeii were the shops – in part the result of the Emperor Augustus’ drive to enhance trade within the empire in the late first century BC.11 Shops occupied much of the space in any street, selling and sometimes producing goods and commodities. The most fequently used word for ‘shop’ is taberna (plural tabernae), perhaps derived from the Latin word for timber (trabs) or board (counter?) (tabula),12 reflecting a shop’s simple, wooden origins. The shop was also a home, however, 72 paul roberts

64 The Forum of Pompeii – the religious, legal and commercial heart of the city. Mount Vesuvius looms in the distance

65 Cast of shutters, closing off a taberna

in particular for the poor,13 and tabernae often had stairs leading to living quarters on upper floors, sometimes with toilet facilities and/or cooking areas. In fact tab ernae may have accounted for around one-third of the housing stock in Pompeii.14 Tabernae, though generally constituting quite small units, were characterised by wide, open frontages, providing maximum access for the public as well as light and ventilation. Another permanent fixture was the deep channel carved into the threshold slabs, to hold the planks and panels for closing the entrance. A remarkable cast from the Via dell’Abbondanza, Pompeii, shows clearly how the shuttering panels were slotted into this groove, as well as the separate ‘night door’ which could be used for access when the premises were closed for business (Fig.65). Sometimes a security stone was set behind the door; this served as the seating for a long pole, used to wedge the door shut. Tabernae were central to production as well as distribution. Many goods were locally made and sold,15 including oil lamps,16 pottery,17 felt, shoes and many other products.18 Garum, too, was probably marketed through tabernae. An inscription mentions saucemakers or sellers (salsamentarii)19 and over 70 of the 200 inscriptions found on sauce jars (urcei), have painted inscriptions bearing the name of the manufacturer Aulus Umbricius Scaurus (p.60), his family or agents.20 Among them were women, such as Umbricia Fortunata.21 Scaurus made so much money from this trade that he bought a huge mansion in the west of Pompeii,22 decorating its atrium with depictions of his sauce bottles (see Fig.113). Other businesses will have been based in a taberna, including bankers, barbers and doctors – even pawnbrokers such as Faustilla who, we are told by graffiti, lent money against earrings.23 Other trades24 including carpenters, engravers, shops and bars 73

64 The Forum of Pompeii – the religious, legal and commercial heart of the city. Mount Vesuvius looms in the distance

65 Cast of shutters, closing off a taberna

perfume sellers, scribes and so on must also have used such buildings, but to date they are largely or wholly invisible in the archaeology of the tabernae.

Bread, bakers and bakeries Not all businesses operated from small tabernae, however. Larger establishments were needed for the ‘industrial’ production and sale of two Roman essentials – bread and wine. Bakers were unknown before the second century BC,25 but by the time of the Empire bread was the people’s food, or ‘cibus vulgaris’.26 Bread, along with the games ‘… panem et circenses …’,27 was a major preoccupation for people, state and local authority. There were 31 bakeries in Pompeii at the time of the eruption (Fig.66),28 concentrated along main roads such as the Via Stabiana.29 In a bakery (pistrinium) there were five main processes:30 bringing in grain and storing flour; ‘kneading’ (mixing) the dough; letting the bread rise; baking; and finally selling the finished bread through connected shops. Only 19 of 31 bakeries had attached tabernae, so those without may have sold their bread privately (to the wealthy) or by using other tabernae, hawkers31 or stalls – even in the Forum itself.32 The classic loaf was round and marked into eight segments. According to one graffito, Pompeian bread was good, but wine was better elsewhere: ‘Traveller, eat bread at Pompeii but drink wine at Nuceria’ (Viator, Pompeis panem gustas, Nuceriae bibes).33 But analysis of Pompeians’ teeth has shown evidence of serious tooth wear, almost certainly through grit from the lava millstones.34 In 1862 an oven in the bakery of Modestus in Pompeii was opened, revealing 80 standard loaves plus one with 14 divisions, perfectly preserved though carbonised.35 Clearly they had been left in the oven during the eruption and had baked … and baked. Only wealthier houses had private ovens, but many households might have prepared their own loaves, stamped with some identifying mark and then taken to the city bakeries.

66 Bakery of Popidius Priscus, with oven and donkey mills

67 Phallic protective figure set into the wall of the bakery of Modestus, above petalled circles. It may have represented loaves of bread

Baking was too important to be left to chance; it needed the protection of the gods and spirits, in particular Vesta, goddess of the hearth. Other good luck symbols, especially the phallus, are commonly found in or near bakeries (Fig.67).

The bakery of the House of the Chaste Lovers Some bakeries were almost certainly added after the earthquake of AD 62, such as the bakery of the House of the Chaste Lovers.36 This was equipped with four lavastone mills driven by donkeys, a large oven, kneading and rising areas and a shop at the front of the house, with tallies of sales still scratched on the walls. This bakery was only partly functioning in AD 79, but people were clearly working and 74 paul roberts

shops and bars 75

perfume sellers, scribes and so on must also have used such buildings, but to date they are largely or wholly invisible in the archaeology of the tabernae.

66 Bakery of Popidius Priscus, with oven and donkey mills

67 Phallic protective figure set into the wall of the bakery of Modestus, above petalled circles. It may have represented loaves of bread

shops and bars 75

living there (Fig.68). The kitchen contained the remains of food and the skeletons of the working donkeys and mules.37 Seventy of the animals were found lying in their stable, with their last meal of hay, now carbonised, still in the manger.

The bakery of Terentius Neo Another bakery produced a unique portrait,38 giving rare insight into the men (and women) who ran Pompeii’s businesses. Painted near the atrium (entrance hall) of the house, it shows a young couple (Fig.69), almost certainly the owners of the business. The man is identified from electoral adverts as Terentius Neo, though sadly we do not know the name of his rather refined wife. She holds a wooden waxed tablet in her left hand and a stylus in her right, brought to her lips in contemplation, while Neo grasps a papyrus scroll. Scrolls and tablets suggested learning, wealth and power; interestingly, the woman is in the foreground and is the writer. The couple are portrayed as literate, learned and equals in their business and perhaps in life.

68 (above) Skeletons of donkeys and mules that worked in the bakery at the House of the Chaste Lovers 69 (opposite) Portrait showing Terentius Neo and his wife. They are portrayed as equals in the running of their business. Naples Museum, MANN 9058

Vineyards and Wine In Pompeii and across the Empire, wine was the drink of choice. Vine growing was the major activity in the countryside (pp.54–8), and important even within the city. The arts reflected the importance of the wine ‘industry’ (pp.48–50), depicting its patron the wine god Bacchus and his followers. Most wine was made fairly locally and many local farms and estates had wineries, or cellae vinariae.39 This wine was brought into Pompeii in bulk – not in the great dolia in which the wine had fermented, but in amphorae, barrels (known, though rare in the south of Italy) or in a great ox-skin culleus (Fig.41). 76 paul roberts

title 77

71 Ornamental entrance of the House of the Faun, one of the grandest houses in Pompeii, flanked by tabernae

72 Salve lucru (‘hail profit’), written in white tesserae at the entrance to the House of Siricus, Pompeii

The arrival of wine in bulk from the countryside might explain the stacks of empty amphorae in some Pompeiian houses, such as the House of the Silver Wedding40 or the House of the Faun,41 ready to be filled with wine. Wine consumed in the city did not always have to be brought in. Several properties in Pompeii produced their own, including the Villa of the Mysteries,42 bars, such as the caupona of Euxinus (pp.90–1), and urban vineyards, such as the so-called cattle market near the amphitheatre (Fig.70).43 This was an extensive vineyard. Some trees, perhaps olive, shaded arbour walks and a pressing area, and there were also two triclinia to enjoy the produce. Today some areas in Pompeii, including the cattle market, have been replanted with vines similar to those grown by the Romans.44 It is important to remember the impression that such facilities would have created. Here, and in many similar establishments, only a stroll from the blood and violence of the arena, was the shaded, vineyard-filled countryside for which the Romans yearned. Many tabernae were physically connected to houses, through portals and passageways. There seems to have been no stigma attached to the proximity of a taberna,45 since many of the finest houses, including the House of the Faun, have tabernae embedded in them (Fig.71).46 Some scholars believe that the great increase in shops in the period before the eruption, and in particular after the earthquake of AD 62/3, amounted to an ‘invasion’ by shopkeepers and merchants and a degradation of the city.47 But for house owners, retail and manufacturing seems to have formed an important part of the household’s income.48 Owners, far from considering such premises an imposition or a ‘necessary evil’, probably regarded them as an asset, a further display of wealth and part of their family’s status.49 78 paul roberts

70 View to the amphitheatre over the replanted vineyard once called the cattle market

The proximity of houses and tabernae meant there was little urban ‘zoning’ in Pompeii. There may have been clustering of particular trades, bringing sellers and buyers together more easily, but more evidence is needed.50 The tabernae, of course, needed customers, so who were the buyers? In Pompeii, as in many Roman cities at this time, there was a burgeoning group of buyers, described by contemporary scholars (desperate to avoid the modern term ‘middle class’) as the ‘middling class’.51 This term comprised the comfort able freeborn population as well as a large and growing number of freedmen – and even those slaves who had sufficient means earned by, say, running a business for their master. Clearly profit, achieved by persuading the middling classes to part with their money, was a principal reason for establishing these tabernae. Indeed it was literally written in stone in some houses, for example ‘SALVE LUCRU’ (‘HAIL PROFIT’) (Fig.72), set into the entrance of the House of Siricus,52 or ‘LUCRUM GAUDIUM’ (‘THE JOY OF PROFIT’), found in another house.53 The rental income from shops was clearly significant.54 Even Cicero, who despised the menial trades of the tabernae,55 earned considerable income from his shops at Pozzuoli.56 At Pompeii, painted signs on at least two properties – the praedia of Julia Felix57 and the Insula Arriana Pollia ‘TABERNAE CUM PERGOLIS’58 – advertised tabernae for rent, both with accommodation (pergolae) shops and bars 79

71 Ornamental entrance of the House of the Faun, one of the grandest houses in Pompeii, flanked by tabernae

72 Salve lucru (‘hail profit’), written in white tesserae at the entrance to the House of Siricus, Pompeii

70 View to the amphitheatre over the replanted vineyard once called the cattle market

163 Detail from a cantharos from Moregine showing a young woman, perhaps a priestess of Isis. Pompeii, SAP 86775 164 Fresco from the tomb of Vestorius Priscus, Pompeii, showing a display of silver drinking vessels

165 (from left to right): Silver cup with olive sprays (Ashmolean Museum, AN2003.1), silver cup with vine leaves (ANFortnum B.200), silver cup with myrtle sprays (AN1896-1908.R.341).

150 paul roberts

service (argentum potorium) consisting of four large and four small cups and two tall drinking cups (canthari). Many pieces of Roman silver were made in pairs or sets of four. The two canthari, dating to about 40 BC, are rare survivals of a pair of vessels with almost identical scenes. One side shows a man wearing a Greek mantle or himation, flanked by a fountain, and a pillar-mounted sculpture or herm. The other side shows a woman in a long, belted Greek robe or peplos (Fig.163), with a table, laden with silver, to her right and an altar (with a cockerel) to her left.98 They may be priests of Isis, reflecting the popularity of the goddess and of Egypt in general. Graffitti on many pieces from Moregine suggest that they had passed through several hands. Under one cantharus are scratched the words ‘Erasti sum’ (‘I belong to Erastus’), repeated elsewhere in Pompeii.99 CAL (an abbreviation for Calpurnius?) is also scratched on most pieces, perhaps naming the last owner.100 Cups and other silver changed hands, as services were broken up and reconfigured. Silverware also had intrinsic value as bullion, and some pieces were marked with their weight. It was not enough to possess silver, however. It had to be displayed, either on the dining table or on a display table, an abacus or mensa vasaria. A wall painting from the tomb of a Pompeiian city official, Vestorius Priscus (Fig.164), shows a table filled with drinking silver.101 Among the pieces are cups, jugs, drinking horns and a large, relief-decorated krater, while on the shelf below are a bronze jug and patera for washing guests’ hands, very much a part of the banquet. This very open, public display of wealth and munificence (at Priscus’ funeral or at a public banquet?) was essential for the effective social stratification and order of cities such as Pompeii.102 The finest silver was made in the repoussée technique, in which designs were beaten into the silver from the inside or underside. The decoration was so raised that some pieces were called ‘sharp vessels’ (vasa aspera).103 Cups were especially finely decorated, featuring scenes of love, mythology, Egyptian life and gods and nature – particularly sacred plants such as olive, vine and myrtle (Fig.165).

dining 151

165 (from left to right): Silver cup with olive sprays (Ashmolean Museum, AN2003.1), silver cup with vine leaves (ANFortnum B.200), silver cup with myrtle sprays (AN1896-1908.R.341).

150 paul roberts

dining 151

166 Pottery face mug. Naples Museum, no inventory number 168 Blue glass ribbed bowl. Pompeii, SAP 13028

167 Tall blue glass jug with rippled handle. Naples Museum, MANN 12489

Pottery and glass Many households, however, had little silver; instead they used pottery and glass. Red Slip Ware pottery, mass-produced in workshops throughout the Empire, was common; it included cups and dishes, often stamped with the maker’s name, from Arezzo in northern Italy. There were also many examples of southern French Red Slip Ware and Marbled Ware, together with locally made table pottery such as flagons and drinking cups, some with crudely modelled faces (Fig.166). One very useful little beaker held hand-crafted bone toothpicks. By AD 79 glass vessels were very widely available. The Romans did not invent glass, but after the invention of glass-blowing in the mid-first century BC workshops sprang up – first in Egypt and the Near East, but then in Italy and the West. Products found at Pompeii included mass-produced cups, beakers, bowls and dishes. But there are also masterpieces such as the large jug with ‘rippled handle’ (Fig.167) and the hand-finished (rather than blown) pillar-moulded bowl (Fig.168). A rare find was a glass drinking horn (or rhyton) (Fig.169), as seen in a fresco from Stabiae (Fig.170).

152 paul roberts

169 Glass drinking horn or rhyton. Pompeii, SAP 12493

170 Fresco of a satyr reclining with a drinking horn. Naples Museum, MANN 9116

dining 153

166 Pottery face mug. Naples Museum, no inventory number 168 Blue glass ribbed bowl. Pompeii, SAP 13028

167 Tall blue glass jug with rippled handle. Naples Museum, MANN 12489

152 paul roberts

169 Glass drinking horn or rhyton. Pompeii, SAP 12493

170 Fresco of a satyr reclining with a drinking horn. Naples Museum, MANN 9116

dining 153

Death at the feast But amidst the jollity and laughter of the invited diners, the Romans were aware of a less welcome guest – Death. The idea of Death was often used to highlight the pleasures of life.104 In Pseudo Vergil the landlady or copa of the caupona sees Death tweaking the ear of a reveller, whispering ‘Vivite…venio….’ (‘Live, for I am coming’).105 Dining-related skeletons include little silver models (larvae), such as the one Trimalchio toys with so lugubriously106 and silver cups from Boscoreale, featuring skeletons of famous Greek philosophers. A mosaic panel, once the central emblema of a triclinium, portrays a skeleton in the guise of a triclinium slave, holding a wine jug (askos) in each hand (Fig.171). Though it may seem puzzling or bizarre to us, the message to the Romans was clear: enjoy the delights of the banquet while you can, and Carpe diem (‘seize the day’). It was the perfect decoration for a Roman area of dining, enjoyment and relaxation. Guests looked at these objects, meditated on them and discussed their significance. The two worlds of death and the convivium, the table and the grave, were never far apart. But the mosaic skeleton’s human counterparts – the slaves – could not stop to meditate, as they shuttled between the luxury of the triclinium and the smoke, smell and bustle of the kitchen.

171 Mosaic emblema of a skeleton representing Death, holding two askoi (wine jugs). Pompeii VI, INS. OCC. 19-26. Naples Museum, MANN 978, photo © The Trustees of the British Museum

154 paul roberts

dining 155

171 Mosaic emblema of a skeleton representing Death, holding two askoi (wine jugs). Pompeii VI, INS. OCC. 19-26. Naples Museum, MANN 978, photo © The Trustees of the British Museum

154 paul roberts

dining 155

The ‘Resin Lady’ from Oplontis in Context Giuseppe Scarpati

Between 1984 and 1991 excavations of the so-called Villa B at Oplontis concentrated on the area towards the south of the site. Here there was a series of eight vaulted rooms which looked onto a colonnaded portico facing out to the sea.1 Only a small section of the portico is still visible today. The material discovered inside these rooms was very varied. It included containers of various shapes and sizes, vessels containing organic remains, marble and terracotta weights, metal tools and other objects, as well as around a metric ton of pomegranates, interspersed with layers of straw. Such items show that these rooms were in use as warehouses and storerooms right up to the moment of the eruption in AD 79.2 One of these rooms became a tomb for a group of people who, in their attempt to flee from the devastating fury of Vesuvius, had sought refuge inside; instead they met their terrible fate within its walls. The excavation records note that the first victim, whose cast was made in plaster of Paris, had been located in January 1977, in the northeast area of the building.3 Afterwards, when the excavations shifted to the southern side of the complex, various skeletons came to light in the room, identified as room 10.4 Some of the group had carried their precious possessions with them in their flight. These included jewellery, objects of bone and ivory, gold and silver coins, bronze vessels and so on. The jewellery found together with the skeletons, though all of excellent workmanship, falls within types that are fairly well-known and widespread in the area around Vesuvius. For the most part it consisted of necklaces, bracelets, rings and earrings, in some cases set with precious stones.5 Most of the items were found next to bodies. The jewellery had evidently been wrapped in folds of clothing or placed in special bags of leather, cloth or string; some pieces were being worn by the owner. At first the excavators tried to make casts from these skeletons using the traditional technique, which involved pouring plaster into the cavity left by the body in the volcanic ash. The results were not satisfactory, however, as the casts broke during the process of digging them out.6 In one case, on the initiative of the conservator Amedeo Cicchitti, an experiment was made with a new technique of creating human casts. This involved creating a cast in wax (Fig.251) inside the void left by the decomposition of organic remains. Around this a mould was made of plaster, into which was poured a transparent epoxy resin.7 In choosing

218

249, 250 Bronze jug found with skeleton 15 (‘The Resin Lady’) from Oplontis, with detail of the handle. Pompeii, SAP 74201

251 (overleaf) ‘The Resin Lady’. The remains of a woman from Villa B at Oplontis cast in epoxy resin. Pompeii, skeleton 15

this material archaeologists hoped to show the person’s entire bone structure, as well as any objects on or around the body. Skeleton 15,8 almost certainly a woman, was selected as the subject for this new technique. She was found face down and spreadeagled inside the room, just above floor level. During the gradual creation of the plaster mould and the removal of the wax, it was realised that the victim’s body had concealed an object under her right arm, a bronze jug, which had fallen on the floor. It had an arching handle, decorated at its top with two waterfowl whose heads rested on the attachment on the rim, and with the attachment to the body decorated with a mask.9 Embedded in the block of wax were the objects that the victim was carrying with her when she died. In a small basket of woven fibres, found near her left arm,10 were a few pieces of jewellery (Fig.252).11 These were five gold rings,12 an ovoid carnelian gemstone, carved with an animal (possibly a bovine) walking left,13 and two gold figure-of-eight shaped links, found to be linked to a necklace found on another skeleton.14 On her left upper arm the woman wore a golden armlet, with an ovoid bezel, though its stone was missing.15 The armlet was substituted with a copy before the making of the resin cast. On the little finger of her right hand she wore an iron ring with an engraved carnelian.16 On the back of her hand could clearly be seen a cloth bag which held a small group of coins: five silver and seven bronze, together with a folded strip of silver.17 Next to the body an iron key was found, as well as another silver coin and an ovoid gem engraved with a bird perched on a laurel branch (Fig.253).18

the ‘resin lady’ from oplontis in context 219

The ‘Resin Lady’ from Oplontis in Context Giuseppe Scarpati

218

249, 250 Bronze jug found with skeleton 15 (‘The Resin Lady’) from Oplontis, with detail of the handle. Pompeii, SAP 74201

251 (overleaf) ‘The Resin Lady’. The remains of a woman from Villa B at Oplontis cast in epoxy resin. Pompeii, skeleton 15

the ‘resin lady’ from oplontis in context 219

220â&#x20AC;&#x201A; paul roberts

titleâ&#x20AC;&#x201A; 221

220â&#x20AC;&#x201A; paul roberts

titleâ&#x20AC;&#x201A; 221

252 Gold ring with snake head terminal, found with skeleton 15 from Oplontis, OP 3414. Naples Museum, MANN 73414)

253 Nicolo intaglio engraved with the image of bird (perhaps a crow?), found with skeleton 15 from Oplontis, OP 4770. Naples Museum, MANN 74770

In 1991 a second group of skeletons was discovered in room 10 (Fig.254). This brought the number of victims of Villa B at Oplontis to more than 60 individuals, including two women in late pregnancy.19 This group differed from the first in that its members had no jewellery, coins or other possessions – a factor that has led many experts to suggest the two groups were from different social classes.20 The skeletons discovered in 1984 may have belonged to men and women of high social status, possessing considerable wealth. They may well have included the owners of the property or managers of the commercial and manufacturing activities that went on in the building, together with their families.21 Those discovered in the second group, on the other hand, may have been people fleeing from the surrounding countryside. This group would also certainly have included slaves who took care of the running of the building for their owners. There is no definitive proof for such a division into two distinct groups from different social classes, although this seems likely. Nevertheless, the people who met their death at Oplontis could well have been those who lived and worked inside the complex. They could also have been individuals who found refuge during their flight from the eruption, in an attempt to reach a dock and escape by sea. Perhaps they were a mixture of both. But all died in the cataclysm of October ad 79.

254 Drawing of the group of skeletons found in 1991, concentrated in the upper left corner of room 10 of Villa B at Oplontis. The Resin Lady, discovered with the earlier group of skeletons in 1984, is the solid figure at the centre of the drawing. Photo: Pompeii archive

222 giuseppe scarpati

the ‘resin lady’ from oplontis in context 223

252 Gold ring with snake head terminal, found with skeleton 15 from Oplontis, OP 3414. Naples Museum, MANN 73414)

253 Nicolo intaglio engraved with the image of bird (perhaps a crow?), found with skeleton 15 from Oplontis, OP 4770. Naples Museum, MANN 74770

222 giuseppe scarpati

the ‘resin lady’ from oplontis in context 223

Food Remains

224 paul roberts

Opposite: Fresco showing bread and figs. From Herculaneum.Naples Museum, MANN 8625

title 225

Food Remains

224 paul roberts

Opposite: Fresco showing bread and figs. From Herculaneum.Naples Museum, MANN 8625

title 225

Houses, Gardens and Feeding the Household Gods Mark Robinson

255 Altar showing a bull about to be sacrificed. Temple of Vespasian, Pompeii

It was not only the human inhabitants of Pompeii who consumed food. The gods living among them subsisted on the heavenly fare of ambrosia, but also received gifts of earthly food, conveyed in the blood let from a sacrifice or the smoke of a burnt offering. Domestic animals ranging from bulls to cocks were sacrificed to the Olympian gods and the Imperial Cult at public temples. A marble altar at the Temple of Vespasian depicts a priest about to receive the sacrifice of a bull (Fig.255). Interestingly, it was usual in the Roman world to sell the meat from public sacrifices for human consumption.1 Carbonised stone pine cones, chestnuts, walnuts and dates were found in a pit at the Temple of Isis during excavations of 1765–6.2 The guardian spirits who protected the home were also propitiated with food offerings, remains of which have been excavated in house gardens.3 Gardens in the broadest sense within the walls of Pompeii ranged from vineyards occupying insulae that had not been built up through to what were little more than back yards of small houses. Planting of shrubs can be recognised because, after burial by the AD 79 eruption, their roots decayed, leaving pumice-filled voids. The planting patterns of some of the gardens at the time of the eruption has been studied in detail by W. Jashemski,4 who took casts of such voids. Sometimes, when a root cast was excavated, it was found to emerge from a flowerpot. Unlike modern British versions, which have a single hole in the base and widen in diameter towards the rim, purpose-made Pompeian flowerpots had an additional three holes in the side and a constricted neck. Shrubs were planted in the garden by burying the pot in the soil, rather than first removing the plant from the pot. Jashemski has suggested a range of plants grown in Pompeii gardens using evidence from classical authors, garden frescoes and, less reliably, root casts. The shrubs/small trees included cypress, laurustinus, oleander, olive, pear, myrtle, pomegranate and several varieties of rose. Climbers included ivy and grape vine, while herbaceous plants included carnation, corn camomile, corn marigold, hart’s tongue fern, opium poppy and stinking iris.5 Jashemski tends to give a modern interpretation to the house gardens of Pompeii: they were places to walk in and cultivate fruit, and where the matron of the house could grow medicinal herbs. In contrast Purcell6 regards gardens as being places to look out onto, bringing the countryside into the house.

227

Houses, Gardens and Feeding the Household Gods Mark Robinson

255 Altar showing a bull about to be sacrificed. Temple of Vespasian, Pompeii

227

ROBERTS · LAST SUPPER IN POMPEII

L A ST SUPPER IN POMPEII

LAST SUPPER IN

POMPEII