Pompeii

by Mary Beard

  The excavations of the bakery in the House of the Chaste Lovers are described by A. Varone, ‘New findings’ and ‘Scavo lungo Via dell’Abbondanza’ (above). The inscriptions from the property are published by Varone, ‘Iscrizioni parietarie inedite da Pompei’, in G. Paci (ed.) EPIGRAPHAI: miscellenea epigraphica in onore di Lidio Gasperini (Tivoli, 2000), vol. 2, 1071–93. The animal skeletons and their housing are assessed by A. Genovese and T. Cocca, ‘Internal organization of an equine stable at Pompeii’, Anthropozoologica 31 (2000), 119–23; and, through the mitochrondrial DNA, by M. Sica et al. ‘Analysis of Five Ancient Equine Skeletons by Mitochondrial DNA sequencing’, Ancient Biomolecules 4 (2002), 179–84. A survey of Pompeian bakeries is offered by B. J. Mayeske, ‘Bakers, bakeshops and bread: a social and economic study’, in Pompeii and the Vesuvian Landscape (Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, 1979), 39–58.

  J. Andreau, Les affaires de Monsieur Jucundus (Rome, 1974) is the major study of the Jucundus tablets. The hierarchy of the witness lists is a major theme of Jongman, Pompeii. A low estimate of levels of literacy is made by W. V. Harris, Ancient Literacy (Cambridge, MA, 1989). Against this, Wallace-Hadrill, ‘Scratching the Surface’ (above) stresses the importance of everyday reading and writing in trade and craftwork.

  Garum has almost become the modern scholarly monopoly of R. I. Curtis, who discusses the mosaics of Umbricius Scaurus in ‘A Personalised Floor Mosaic from Pompeii’, American Journal of Archaeology 88 (1984), 557–66; the shop in ‘The Garum shop of Pompeii’, Cronache Pompeiane 5 (1979), 5–23; and the trade more generally in ‘In Defense of Garum;’, Classical Journal 78 (1983), 232–40.

  Chapter 6

  The political life of Pompeii (and the character of the electoral notices) is the subject of Mouritsen, Elections, magistrates and municipal elite (above). A comprehensive list of known Pompeian families, their members and their political office holding is provided by P. Castrén, Ordo populusque Pompeianus. Polity and society in Roman Pompeii (Rome, 1975) – still valuable for its data, despite some of its dubious theories about a ‘crisis’ at Pompeii in the reign of the emperor Claudius. J. L. Franklin, Pompeii. The Electoral Programmata, Campaigns and Politics, AD 71–79 (Rome, 1980) attempts to reconstruct the electoral campaigns of the last years of the town’s life. His book probably overstated the lack of competition in local elections, and contributed to Jongman’s view, in Pompeii (above), that elections were in practice in the control of the ordo. This is challenged by H. Mouritsen, ‘A note on Pompeian epigraphy and social structure, Classica et Mediaevalia 41 (1990), 131–49 – who also challenges the view of particular ‘disorder’ in the politics of the town after the earthquake in ‘Order and Disorder in Later Pompeian Politics’, in Les élites municipales (above), 139–44. The voting system and districts of Pompeii, as well as the lay-out of the Forum, are discussed by Coarelli, ‘Pompei: il foro’ (above). The recommendation for Bruttius Balbus is CIL IV, 3702; the wake-up call to Trebius and Soterichus is CIL IV, 7632.

  The role of women in election campaigns is discussed by F. S. Bernstein, ‘Pompeian Women and the Programmata’, in R. I Curtis (ed.), Studia Pompeiana et classica in honor of Wilhelmina F. Jashemski (New Rochelle, NY, 1988), Vol. 1, 1–18 and L Savunen, ‘Women and elections in Pompeii’, in R. Hawley and B. Levick, Women in Antiquity: new assessments (London, 1995), 194–203. The poster of Taedia Secunda is CIL IV, 7469; the recommendations of the ‘bar maids’ are CIL IV, 7862, 7863, 7864, 7866, 7873.

  The classic study of the culture of benefaction in the classical world is P. Veyne, Bread and Circuses: historical sociology and political pluralism (London, 1990). R. P. Duncan-Jones, ‘Who paid for public buildings in Roman cities’, in his Structure and Scale in the Roman Economy (Cambridge, 1990), 174–84 includes material relevant to, if not about, Pompeii (including the role of the financial contributions made by local officials when they entered office). Daily routines are discussed by Laurence, Roman Pompeii (above), 154–66. The Spanish charter can be found at Crawford et al. (ed.), Roman Statutes, vol 1, 393–454. The graffito on the accensus is CIL IV, 1882.

  The career of Marcus Holconius Rufus is discussed by J. H. D’Arms, ‘Pompeii and Rome in the Augustan Age and beyond: the eminence of the Gens Holconia’, in Curtis (ed.), Studia Pompeiana et classica, vol. 1, 51–73. His statue is the subject of P. Zanker, ‘Das Bildnis des M. Holconius Rufus’. Archäologischer Anzeiger 1989, 349–61, and his building projects (including their specifically Augustan character) are prominently featured in Zanker’s Pompeii (above). The position of ‘military tribune by popular demand’ is mentioned by Suetonius, Life of Augustus 46.

  Local organisations in Pompeii are discussed by W. van Andringa, ‘Autels de carrefour, organisation vicinale et rapports de voisinage à Pompéi’, RStP II (2000), 47–86. The role of the Augustales in the wider imperial context is the subject of S. E. Ostrow, ‘The Augustales in the Augustan scheme’, in K. A. Raaflaub and M. Toher, Between Republic and Empire: Interpretations of Augustus and his Principate (Berkeley etc., 1990), 364–79 – who also discusses their history in the Bay of Naples in ‘Augustales along the Bay of Naples: a case for their early growth’, Historia 34 (1985), 64–101. The elusive evidence from Pompeii is introduced by Petersen, The Freedman (above), 57–83 (with a discussion of the rebuilding of the temple of Isis by Numerius Popidius Celsinus, pp. 52–3). The idea of the Eumachia building being a cloth workers hall was strongly advocated by W. O. Moeller, The Wool Trade of Ancient Pompeii (Leiden, 1976); the possibility that it was used as a slave market is floated by E. Fentress, ‘On the block: catastae, chalcidica and cryptae in early imperial Italy’, JRA 18 (2005), 220–34.

  Chapter 7

  Roman dining in general has been the subject of many recent studies. In addition to Dunbabin, The Roman Banquet (above), a good collection of esssays, exploring various aspects of dining is W. J. Slater, Dining in a Classical Context (Ann Arbor, 1991). Pompeian images of drinking and dining in the House of the Chaste Lovers (IX. 12. 6) and elsewhere are discussed by Clarke, Art in the Lives of Ordinary Romans, (above), 228–33 (focussing on how far the paintings represent distinctively Greek conventions of drinking and eating) and M. B. Roller, Dining Posture in Ancient Rome: bodies, values and status (Princeton, NJ, 2006), 45–84 and 139–53. The House of the Menander treasure is catalogued in K. S. Painter, The Insula of the Menander at Pompeii, Vol. 4, The Silver Treasure (Oxford, 2001). The connections between death and dining are explored by K. Dunbabin, ‘Sic erimus cuncti ... The skeleton in Graeco-Roman Art’, Jahrbuch des deutschen archäolgischen Instituts 101 (1986), 185–255, and summarised in The Roman Banquet. The tomb painting of silver is from the (widely illustrated) tomb of Vestorius Primus. The bronze statue from the House of Julius Polybius is illustrated in d’Ambrosio, Guzzo and Mastroberto, Storie da un’eruzione (above), 424 and in Boriello et al., Pompei: abitare sotto il Vesuvio (above), 231. The nutrition of the poor is well discussed by P. Garnsey, Food and Society in Classical Antiquity (Cambridge, 1999). For animal bones from the House of the Vestals, see www.archaeology.org/interactive/pompeii/field/5.html. The dormouse jar is described by Varro, On Agriculture III, 15. A dormouse recipe is given by Apicius, On Cookery, VII, 9; his ‘casserole of anchovy without the anchovy’ is described at IV, 2, 12. Trimalchio’s banquet features in Petronius’ Satyrica, 26–78; Elagabalus’ dinners in Scriptores Historiae Augustae, Life of Elagabalus 19, 25. Plutarch’s Table Talk is a mine of curious information on Greek and Roman dining customs. Pliny’s dining arrangements are described in Letters V, 6.

  Pompeian bars and their menus are surveyed by S. J. R. Ellis, ‘The Pompeian Bar: archaeology and the role of food and drink outlets in an ancient community’, Food and History 2 (2004), 41–58, J. Packer, ‘Inns at Pompeii: a short survey’, Cronache Pompeiane 4 (1978), 5–53. An exhibition in 2005 gathered together most of the finds from the bar on the Via dell’ Abbondanza, published as Cibi e sapori a Pompei e dintorni (Naples, 2005), 115–28 (with an excellent d
iscussion). The paintings in the Inn of Salvius and in the Bar in the Via di Mercurio are featured in Clarke, Art in the Lives of Ordinary Romans (above), 160–70, 134–6 and in Looking at Laughter (above), 205–9. Horace’s remarks are at Epistles I, 14, 21–2, Juvenal’s at Satires VIII, 171–6. The legislation of Nero and Vespasian is recorded at Dio Cassius, Histories LXII, 14, 2; LXV, 10, 3. Pliny’s discussion of Falernian is at Natural History XIV, 62.

  Different aspects of Roman sexuality are helpfully explored in C. Edwards, The Politics of Immorality in Ancient Rome (Cambridge, 1993), M. B. Skinner, Sexuality in Greek and Roman Culture (Oxford, 2005), C. Williams, Roman Homosexuality: ideologies of masculinity in classical antiquity (Oxford, 1999). Different approaches to the ‘brothel problem’ are taken by T. McGinn, ‘Pompeian brothels and social history’, in Pompeian brothels, Pompeii’s Ancient History, Mirrors and Mysteries, Art and Nature at Oplontis, & the Herculaneum ‘Basilica’ (JRA supp., Portsmouth, RI, 2002) 7–46 and, more cautiously, Wallace-Hadrill, ‘Public honour and private shame’ (above). Wider aspects of Roman prostitution are discussed by T. McGinn, The Economy of Prostitution in the Roman World: a study of social history and the brothel (Ann Arbor, 2004). Detailed studies of the ‘purpose-built’ brothel and its graffiti, include A. Varone, ‘Organizzazione e sfruttamento della prostituzione servile: l’esempio del lupanare di Pompei’, in A. Buonopane and T. Cenerini (ed.) Donna e lavoro nella documentazione epigrafica (Faenza, 2003), 193–215 and an enterprising website from Stanford University, traumwerk.stanford.edu:3455/SeeingThePast/345. The Roman tombstone to the dutiful wife is M. R. Lefkowitz and M. B. Fant, Women’s Life in Greece and Rome (London, 1982), no. 134. The bracelet given by master to slave is illustrated and discussed in d’Ambrosio, Guzzo and Mastroberto (ed.), Storie da un’eruzione, 470, 473–8. Praestina’s lack of affection for Marcellus is displayed at CIL IV, 7679.

  A good introduction to modern work on the history, archaeology and culture of Roman bathing is Roman baths and bathing : proceedings of the First International Conference on Roman Baths (JRA supp., Portsmouth, RI, 1999). G. G. Fagan, Bathing in Public in the Roman World (Ann Arbor, 1999) and J. Toner, Leisure and Ancient Rome (Oxford, 1995), 53–64 are both excellent on different aspects of the ancient sociology of bathing (the quip about the ‘hole in the ozone layer’ is Toner’s). F. Yegül, Baths and Bathing in Classical Antiquity (Cambridge, MA, 1992) surveys the structure of Roman baths, empire wide (including detailed descriptions of the remains at Pompeii). The definitive publication of the Suburban Baths is L. Jacobelli, La pitture erotiche delle terme suburbane di Pompei (Rome, 1995), with useful discussion by Clarke, Looking at Laughter (above), 194–204 and 209–12.

  The tombstone hailing ‘wine, sex and baths’ can be found at CIL VI, 15258; the text from Turkey, on a spoon, is CIL III, 12274c. The story of Augustus’ mother is told by Suetonius, Life of Augustus 94; Martial’s squib about the hernia is Epigrams XII, 83; the nasty flogging is described at Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights X, 3; Hadrian’s canny generosity is the subject of an anecdote in the Scriptores Historiae Augustae, Life of Hadrian 17. For the unhygienic aspects, see Martial, Epigrams II, 42 and Celsus, On Medicine V, 26, 28d (though in general Celsus is upbeat about the curative properties of baths). The dual role of the bath manager is mentioned in the Digest of Justinian III, 2, 4, 2.

  Chapter 8

  Gambling is discussed by N. Purcell, ‘Literate Games: Roman urban society and the game of alea’, Past and Present 147 (1995), 3–37 and J. Toner, Leisure (above), 89–101. The snorting noise is mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus, Histories XIV, 6.

  The range of Roman theatre is discussed by R. C. Beacham, The Roman Theatre and its Audience (London, 1991). C. Edwards, The Politics of Immorality (above), 98–136 explores the moral ambiguity of ‘theatrical culture’. Mime and pantomime are the theme of E. Fantham, ‘Mime: the missing link in Roman literary history’, Classical World 82 (1989), 153–63 (whence the nice remark about the ‘Swedish masseuses’) and of E. Hall and R. Wyles (ed.), New Directions in Ancient Pantomime (Oxford, 2008). The career and portraits of Caius Norbanus Sorex are discussed by M. G. Granino Cecere, ‘Nemi: l’erma di C. Norbanus Sorex’, Rendiconti della Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia 61 (1988–9), 131–51. J. L. Franklin, ‘Pantomimists at Pompeii: Actius Anicetus and his troup’, American Journal of Philology 108 (1987), 95–107 tries to piece together a pantomimist’s company and its fan-club.

  The structure of the Amphitheatre at Pompeii is clearly discussed by D. L. Bomgardner, The Story of the Roman Amphitheatre (London and New York, 2000), 39–54 and K. Welch, The Roman Amphitheatre from its origins to the Colosseum (Cambridge, 2007), 192–8. The Pompeian evidence for gladiatorial spectacle and organisation is gathered together and well illustrated in L. Jacobelli, Gladiators at Pompeii (Rome, 2003). K. Hopkins and M. Beard, The Colosseum (London, 2005) cast a slightly sceptical eye on the frequency and lavishness of ordinary gladiatorial shows, especially those outside Rome itself – a view which is reflected here. B. Maiuri, ‘Rilievo gladiatorio di Pompei’, Rendiconti dell’ Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (scienze morali etc.), Series 8, Vol. 2 (1947) 491–510 carefully dissects the relief showing procession, gladiatorial combat and animal fights. The classic passage from Juvenal about the lady and the gladiator is Satires VI, 82–113.

  Chapter 9

  The title of this chapter is taken from K. Hopkins, A World Full of Gods: pagans, Jews and Christians in the Roman empire (London, 1999), which includes an attempt by two imaginary modern time-travellers, returning to the ancient world, to make sense of Pompeian culture and (especially) its religion. The general approach adopted in this chapter (including the model of sacrifice, and of ‘foreign’ cults) inevitably owes a good deal to that of M. Beard, J. North and S. Price, Religions of Rome (Cambridge, 1998), where many of the religious themes raised here can be followed up. The second volume (A Sourcebook) contains most of the ancient literary texts I have quoted or referred to. J. Scheid, Introduction to Roman Religion (Edinburgh, 2003) is also very useful. Horace evokes sacrifice at Odes III, 13.

  An excellent overview of the evidence and bibliography for all the various cults, shrines and temples in Pompeii is offered by L. Barnabei, ‘I culti di Pompei: Raccolta critica della documentazione’, in Contributi di Archeologia Vesuviana III (Rome, 2007), 11–88. On the new identification of the Temple of Jupiter Meilichios, F. Marcatelli, ‘Il tempio di Escalapio a Pompei’, in Contributi di Archeologia Vesuviana II (Rome, 2006), 9–76. The sculpture within the Temple of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva is usefully discussed by H.G. Martin, Römische Tempelkultbilder: eine archäologische Untersuchung zur späten Republik (Rome, 1987), 222–4. A different view of Pompeian Venus is offered by J. B. Rives, ‘Venus Genetrix outside Rome’, Phoenix 48 (1994) 294–6. The ferculum of the carpenters is discussed by Clarke, Art in the Lives of Ordinary Romans (above), 85–7.

  Household religion and the Lares are discussed by P. Foss, ‘Watchful Lares. Roman household organization and the rituals of cooking and eating’, in Laurence and Wallace-Hadrill (ed.), Domestic Space in the Roman World (above), 196–218. Lararia are catalogued by G. K. Boyce. Corpus of the Lararia of Pompeii (Rome, 1937), and more recently their paintings are included in T. Fröhlich, Lararien- und Fassadenbilder in den Vesuvstädten Untersuchungen zur ‘volkstümlichen’ pompejanischen Malerei (Mainz, 1991). The ‘Fulgur’ tile is discused by A. Maiuri, ‘“Fulgur conditum” o della scoperta di un bidental a Pompei’, Rendiconti dell’Accademia di Archeologia, Lettere e Belle Arti, Napoli, 21 (1941), 55–72. The ‘offerings’ at the House of Amarantus are noted by M. Fulford and A. Wallace-Hadrill, ‘The House of Amarantus at Pompeii (I. 9. 11–12): an interim report on survey and excavations in 1995–6’, RStP 7 (1995–96), 77–113. The practices of ancient household religion more generally, including Rome, are the subject of J. Bodel and S. Olyan (ed.), Household and Family Religion in Antiquity (Oxford, 2008).

  The implausible concentration of buildings con
nected with the imperial cult in many modern reconstructions of the Forum is dissected by I. Gradel, Emperor Worship and Roman Religion (Oxford, 2002), 103–8. Other useful essays (though sometimes too eager to see traces of the imperial cult where few or none exist) are contained in A. Small (ed.), Subject and ruler: the cult of the ruling power in clasical antiquity (JRA supp., Portsmouth, RI, 1996).

  R. E Witt, Isis in the Graeco-Roman World (London, 1971) is still a useful introduction to the history of Isis in the Roman Empire. The temple of Isis was the subject of a major exhibition in the early 1990s, published as Alla ricerca di Iside: analisi, studi e restauri dell’Iseo pompeiano nel Museo di Napoli (Naples, 1992). Also relevant is E. A. Arslan (ed.) Iside: il mito, il mistero, la magia (Milan, 1997).

  Epilogue

  I. Morris, Death-ritual and social structure in classical antiquity (Cambridge, 1992) is an overview of burial practice in Greece and Rome. Pompei oltre la vita: nuove testimonianze dalle necropoli (Pompeii, 1998) is the catalogue of an exhibition on Pompeian tombs. Petersen, The Freedman (above), 60–83 discusses tombs of freedmen. On tombs as houses (and the case of Phileros), see A. Wallace-Hadrill, ‘Housing the dead: the tomb as house in Roman Italy’, in L. Brink and D. Green (ed.) Commemorating the Dead. Texts and Artifacts in Context, (Berlin and New York, 2008), 39–77. The inscription from the tomb of Phileros has been re-examined by E. Rodriguez-Almeida, in Topografia e vita romana: da Augusto a Costan-tino (Rome, 2001), 91–103.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS