Korva is a scroll of the internet’s best ideas.
A Pompeii bar fight, painted
Four painted scenes
The scenes come from the caupona of Salvius in Pompeii, four separate panels that give a sense of the life inside the bar. In the first, people are kissing, with a caption above them. In the second, men with drinking cups call out to a barmaid, probably for more alcohol.
In the third, men sit playing dice. In the fourth, it seems the same two men have begun fighting and are yelling obscenities at each other. The barkeeper, or innkeeper, steps in and tells one of them to take the fight outside.
Roman fast food counters
A caupona or a thermopolium was a fast food counter, and in the busy cities of the Roman Empire it was often where people ate. Pompeii, Isola Sacra, and Ostia all have images of these counters, and the Isola Sacra bar scene shows a counter with wares on display for sale.
Why did Romans eat at street counters?
Many city dwellers rented small rooms in apartment buildings with no kitchen, and cooking over open flames in crowded wooden-floored buildings was a fire risk. Counters sold hot food and wine to anyone passing by. Many had large clay jars sunk into the counter top to hold food and drink. Pompeii preserved a great number of these counters under volcanic ash after Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D.
Why was Roman wine mixed with water?
Roman wine was often strong, sweet, and thick, so diluting it was normal at meals and in bars. Roman writers tended to link drinking wine undiluted with barbarians and with drunkenness. Some counters also served wine heated.
How did these paintings survive at Pompeii?
Vesuvius buried the town under ash and pumice in 79 A.D. The deposit sealed the plastered walls away from weather, and later builders never reused the site. Excavations that began in the 1700s uncovered painted walls in houses, shops, and bars across the town.
More from Ancient Rome Live
