HUM / REL 293 - Beginning Latin
Pompeii - thermopōleum
A Thermopōlium
Although the textbook translates thermopōlium as "bar", a thermopōlium was more like a snack-bar or fast-food joint than a tavern. It was usually a small shop, featuring a counter or bar with earthenware containers sunk in the counter. The containers would hold a variety of hot foods, and there were other jars and containers behind the counter for cold foods and drinks.
People could buy a hot or cold snack and a drink as they conducted their business around the town.
Several of the thermopōlia in Pompeii and Herculaneum had a painting or a niche in one of the walls which seems to be a shrine of some sort.
Thermopōliae in Pompeii
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