THE BAKERS OF POMPEII www misterconnor org BAKERS

THE BAKERS OF POMPEII www. misterconnor. org

BAKERS Bakers (pistores), like other business owners were freedmen. Slaves could own and run businesses, but this was rare. Bakers might employ skilled men to work, or they could buy slaves to work in the business.

BREAD Roman bakeries produced different kinds of breads, of different qualities, for customers of different levels of wealth: panis militaris castrensis (a hard biscuit reserved for soldiers) panis nauticus (for sailors) panis furfureus (for dogs) artolaganus (a luxury bread with honey, wine, milk, oil, pepper and candied fruit) panis furnaceus (baked bread) subcinerinus fucacius (baked under the ashes) clibanicus (a cake baked on the outer wall of a red-hot pot) panis quadratus (with incisions to allow it to be split into four)

BREAD [2] The number of varieties of bread, and the large numbers of bakeries, indicate that bread was a central foodstuff of ancient Rome. Bakers formed guilds (collegium pistorum) and agreed contracts with local governments to provide bread which was then distributed to the population.

BUYING BREAD This wall-painting depicts the sale of bread - loaves of bread are stacked on the shop counter, and the vendor can be seen handing them to customers. It is thought that the inhabitants of Pompeii bought their daily bread from bakeries rather than baked it themselves at home, since ovens rarely are found in the houses of the town.

MILLS The number of bakeries that have so far been excavated (33) tends to support this belief. Bakeries are identified by the presence of stone mills to grind grain, and large woodburning ovens for baking.

WORK Each mill consists of two millstones, one stationary and one hollow and shaped like a funnel. Wooden levers were inserted into the funnel-shaped stone so that the stone could be rotated. Each mill would have been operated either by manpower or with the help of a donkey or horse (in one bakery, the skeletons of several donkeys were discovered). In order to make flour, grain was poured from above into the hollow stone and then was ground between the two stones.

OTHER VENDORS Bread may have been bought directly from the bakery, but it was also sold from temporary stalls set up at different parts of the town. Two graffiti discovered on the precinct wall of the Temple of Apollo are an indication of this. They read Verecunnus libarius hic and Pudens libarius ('Verecunnus and Pudens sell sacrificial bread here’).

HIGH DEMAND The presence of many bakeries and pastry shops, suggests that this was a busy, thriving area of work. In one bakery, 85 loaves were found left in an oven at the time of the eruption showing the demand for shop-bought bread was high.

THE SKINNY Important job. Most Pompeiians did not make their own bread and would buy it daily. Hot conditions to labour in (ovens). Physical work pushing the mills. Sometimes donkeys were used. Loaves were baked in tins to ensure that every customer got same amount of bread for their money. Many bakeries would have used slaves to do the unpleasant work and meet the demand for bread. Bakers’ eyes damaged by thick smoke - most bakeries would have been dark and smoky due to the lack of windows and chimneys.

SOURCES http: //www. ancienthistoryarchaeology. com/pompeian-bakeries http: //www. cerealialudi. org/en/alimentazione/pane-e-panettierinellantica-roma/ http: //museum-of-artifacts. blogspot. co. uk/2015/10/a-carbonised -loaf-of-bread-with-stamp. html http: //www. ostia-antica. org/dict/topics/bakeries/bakart. htm