Commercial Life in Pompeii
Commercial Life in Pompeii and Herculaneum
Historians have debated the nature of Pompeian economy – whether it was based on agriculture or trade. Some see the Roman empire in modern terms as one vast single market where demand drove up prices and productivity stimulated trade to a never before seen level (residue of pollution can be found in Greenland’s ice-cap and the many ship wrecks indicating the large volume of sea borne traffic). Other historians see Roman economy as ‘primitive’ based primarily on agriculture and the main aim of any community was to feed itself, with trade as the icing on the cake (based on the risky and costly sea travel, lack of banking system, social mores for respectability being against trade and laws forbidding senators and their sons from owning trade ships) (Beard pp.152-3)[i]. More likely it was a combination of the two scenarios. Pompeii, unlike the quieter fishing/resort town of Herculaneum, can be seen to be a bustling commercial centre, a town where making a profit and accumulating wealth was regarded as being favoured by the gods. This picture is based on evidence such as: * High number of privately owned shops, workshops, bars and inns, about 600 excavated * The markets around the Forum * The epigraphic (written) evidence of the guilds of tradesmen and retailers * The roughly 20 maritime warehouses & buildings lined with wine jars * Paintings of cargo boats on the Sarno River and porters carrying products to be loaded onto vessels * Trade signs advertise goods and services * Inscriptions on walls and floors on the benefits of making profit, eg. “welcome gain” in the impluvium of the house of a carpenter * Images of Mercury, the God of commerce displayed The economies of Vesuvian towns were based on agricultural production (grain, grapes, olives and sheep) and fishing. The wealthiest families owned large houses in the city and also estates in the country side which were run and
Historians have debated the nature of Pompeian economy – whether it was based on agriculture or trade. Some see the Roman empire in modern terms as one vast single market where demand drove up prices and productivity stimulated trade to a never before seen level (residue of pollution can be found in Greenland’s ice-cap and the many ship wrecks indicating the large volume of sea borne traffic). Other historians see Roman economy as ‘primitive’ based primarily on agriculture and the main aim of any community was to feed itself, with trade as the icing on the cake (based on the risky and costly sea travel, lack of banking system, social mores for respectability being against trade and laws forbidding senators and their sons from owning trade ships) (Beard pp.152-3)[i]. More likely it was a combination of the two scenarios. Pompeii, unlike the quieter fishing/resort town of Herculaneum, can be seen to be a bustling commercial centre, a town where making a profit and accumulating wealth was regarded as being favoured by the gods. This picture is based on evidence such as: * High number of privately owned shops, workshops, bars and inns, about 600 excavated * The markets around the Forum * The epigraphic (written) evidence of the guilds of tradesmen and retailers * The roughly 20 maritime warehouses & buildings lined with wine jars * Paintings of cargo boats on the Sarno River and porters carrying products to be loaded onto vessels * Trade signs advertise goods and services * Inscriptions on walls and floors on the benefits of making profit, eg. “welcome gain” in the impluvium of the house of a carpenter * Images of Mercury, the God of commerce displayed The economies of Vesuvian towns were based on agricultural production (grain, grapes, olives and sheep) and fishing. The wealthiest families owned large houses in the city and also estates in the country side which were run and