Roman fast food … fruit and vegetables painted above marble-tiled side table with stepped shelves in the Thermopolium di Via di Diana, a 200s AD snack bar or café that sold hot food and drinks, near the forum at Ostia, the seaport of ancient Rome, in Lazio, Italy. Thermopolia, found throughout the ancient Roman world, sold ready-to-eat food, often to people without private kitchens, such as those living in tenements. A built-in cooking stove survives in the kitchen of this example, which has a small courtyard at the back for outside dining.
Ostia Antica, Lazio, Italy: a pictorial menu of Roman fast food … fruit and vegetables in a still life wall-painting above a marble-tiled side table with stepped shelves in the Thermopolium di Via di Diana, a 3rd century AD snack bar, café or tavern selling hot food and drinks. It enjoyed a prime position on the Via di Diana near the Forum at Ostia, the seaport of ancient Rome. Thermopolia have been found throughout the ancient Roman world, with other well-preserved examples at Pompeii and Herculaneum. They sold ready-to-eat food, often to people without private kitchens, such as those living in insulae tenements. As such, they were probably scorned by the Roman middle and upper classes. This thermopolium is a typical example. A marble food preparation counter with a basin in its base still faces the street, flanked by brick benches. Water would have been mixed in the basin with wine and used for cleaning crockery. The adjoining kitchen features a built-in cooking stove and a large half-buried pottery jar used for storing oil or wine. A small courtyard at the rear boasted a fountain and benches for customers to eat outside. Ostia lies about 15 miles (24 km) southwest of Rome. It was founded on the Tiber estuary in the 7th century BC, but silting made the river change course and it is now about miles inland. It became a prosperous city, with emperors Augustus, Domitian and Trajan building palaces, monuments and public buildings. Although large ships were forced to moor at sea as the harbour silted, Ostia continued to supply Rome with provisions and treasures from around the Empire, reaching peak prosperity in the 2nd century AD, when it housed about 50,000 people. The site was abandoned in the 9th century, but the extensive remains survive in good condition and the excavated site is now an archaeological park.
Size: 2754px × 4147px
Location: Ostia Antica, Lazio, Italy
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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