Page 53 - Pompeii n. 12 - The world of money at Pompeii
P. 53
English version
Along the main roads of the Vesuvian city there were lots of shops, particularly
many places for overnight stays, the hospitia, and for meals, the cauponae, some
with their own vineyard for the production and sale of wine, and the thermopolia
aimed at the sale of food and hot drinks, a sort of modern inn where, as the
epigraphic sources indicate, a measure of house wine cost 1 as, Falerno wine cost 4
asses and a bowl of flour and spelt soup cost 1 as.
In Pompeii, in the part which has been excavated, 89 thermopolia, have been
identified, many of which were located close to popular public places (the
amphitheatre, theatres, gymnasiums, baths) or close to the gates of the city where
those who had travelled from the hinterland and the nearby centres arrived.
In these trading places, bronze coins were prevalently found as they were more
commonly used in the activities of a minor and daily nature. In particular the as was
the most commonly adopted coin.
THERMOPOLIUM OF VETUTIUS PLACIDUS. Sales counter. ©SSBAPES.
53
