The Inn, Restaurant and Tavern Business in Ancient Pompeii

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Date
1964Author
Ruddell, Sharon Marie
Advisor
Jashemski, Wilhelmina F.
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Show full item recordAbstract
The number of public establishments in ancient Pompeii
indicates that the inn, restaurant and tavern business was one of
t..'l-J.e most extensive in the town. This thesis endeavors to. study
each public inn and eating house in Pompeii, and to observe the
general characteristics of ancient inns, restaurants and taverns
as exemplified by the excavations of the city. The first chapter
discusses the various types of ancient inns, restaurants and taverns,
using the Pompeian establishments as specific examples. The general
features of the inns and taverns are described and illustrated.
Various aspects of tavern life are discussed in the second chapter.
The epigraphical evidence yielded by the excavations at Pompeii
provides vivid testimony to the life in the taverns of antiquity.
This information, combined with the writings of the ancient authors,
portrays much of the activity in the Pompeian inns and eating houses.
In the third chapter, the rol·e of the public establishments in
Pompeii's city life is discussed. Their locations and areas of
concentration, as well as their commercial and social importance
are considered. In the Appendix, each inn, restaurant and tavern
that has been excavated and identified is described. A bibliography
follows each description. Wherever possible, plans of various
Pompeian establishments have been included throughout the paper.