 Today, we'll examine what ancient Romans ate. We have three great resources that we can review. Number one, ancient literary sources, including a cookbook, representation of food in Roman art, and actual food preserved, some examples from Pompeii and Rome. First let's start with the basics. We know that in the ancient world it was grain, olive oil and wine that were the staples. Scholars estimate that at least 400,000 metric tons of grain olive oil and wine were brought into Rome by ship, a thousand ships with the sailing season of a hundred days. We have to consider that the average adult is consuming around 250 kilograms of grain per person per year for one million inhabitants. And a lot of that grain was distributed for free, the cura onona. Here is a depiction of a ship from Ostiantica, where sacks of grain are being loaded onto a ship to then be towed upriver to Rome. Ancient sources mostly date to the late republican period and the early imperial period, and there are about farming, crop rotation, and various foodstuffs that were grown. The authors, Cato, Vero, Columella. Then we turn to Pliny the Elder, who in his natural history gives us great gems of information about foods and spices. Here's what he says about the industry of raising eels as part of the Roman diet. He writes that Gaius Heurus was the first person to raise eels, and he actually gave 6,000 of them for Caesar's triumphal banquet in Rome. And when his house, which was very modest, was finally put for sale, it sold for over four million cestresses because of the valuable nature of the fishponds on the premises. Now let's turn to the cookbook of Apicius of the 1st century A.D., De Re Coquinaria, on the subject of cooking. Here is an example of countless recipes. Crushed pepper, laurel berry, mixed in cumin, garum, and stuff it into the thrush with this preparation down the throat, tying them with the string. Thereupon make this preparation in which they are cooked, consisting of oil, saltwater, dill, and heads of leeks. Now let's turn to Roman food that's represented in art. Here is a recently discovered Xenia, which is hospitality gifts in the form of food given to people that are visiting you, and this is the famous fresco that has on this depiction of a silver tray various foodstuffs. And the real standout is this round focaccia, the so-called pizza. Of course, it's before the time of pizza, but what it is is an example of an ensemble of food that is to be presented in reality to the guest of the owner of the house. We also have many representations of bar scenes. Here is one from Isola Sacra, as part of a sarcophagus. We can see the foodstuffs displayed on the shelves. Here is a famous bar scene from Ostiantica, where we have the woman who is the barkeeper is standing in front of a counter distributing food. So we see probably pomegranates here, or apples. We see down below her counter caged rabbits and birds. And next to her, you see a number of birds deceased, dangling from a pole. We have countless examples of artwork depicting food. Here's a tray of anchovies and dead thrushes. Here we have a chicken with its legs bound. Here we have a bowl of pomegranates in a glass face. And here we have loaves of bread. More baskets of fruit. Here we have a loaf of bread and two figs, a rabbit and more figs. And countless trays of fruit. So we have lots of examples of multiple series of depictions, still lifes, live animals and animals that are ready to be prepared to be cooked. Then we can go to Pompeii and we have countless examples of real food that's preserved. Now on display on the other Pompeii exhibition that we've shown you in another video. Pompeii was by the sea, well, they consumed a lot of seafood. Here we have three good examples of what they consumed. Sea urchin, clams and pieces of tuna. Here we have cow bones. We have here chicken and sparrow. Here we have pig and goat. Here are eggshells, well preserved. Here is a pile of fish bones and more clams. Of course, one of the great discoveries in Pompeii is the loaves of bread. We have over 80 loaves of bread that have been recuperated from Pompeii. Of course, underlines the fact that just so much bread was consumed in ancient Roman cities like Pompeii. Of course, we have lots of fruit preserved from Pompeii, like these figs. And pomegranates, walnuts, olive pits, flower bulbs, carabs, fava beans and a combination of legumes and grains for soup. Of course, we can also go to the Colosseum, back in the heart of Rome. And we can see what those spectators in the stands would actually consume. Some things they brought with them, some things they bought in the concession stands. Just like in sporting arenas today. So what's been recovered from the drains of the Colosseum? It's on display in the Colosseum today. We have the remains of goat and chicken bones. We have the remains of peach pits, olive pits, cherry pits, pine nuts, melon seeds, plum seeds, dates, grape seeds, oysters and clamshells. What an array of food available to you as a spectator in the Colosseum. Now let's visualize the foodstuffs that are going to be on sale in the bars here in Herculaneum. We can imagine you ladling out wine or dried goods, shelves for displaying the wares. Here's a bar in Pompeii. Again, this concept spread throughout the entire Roman world. And we can imagine a brisk business. We can imagine all kinds of those products we've been talking about on sale here for patrons, locals, foreigners. We can also travel to Ostiantica where we have a later second century bar, still that same counter and shelves for displaying various wares that were for sale. We can go to the McKellum spaces, which are markets for spices and fish. This is the famous one, the gigantic one of Puteoli, which is an impressive architectural space in and of itself. But essentially it's a shopping mall. It's a place for buying and selling food, purchasing spices. And here in Jerash, we have another example of a McKellum. So as we walk around here, we can see they always have this central round space. And then there are the office spaces for shops all around the perimeter. This is a place where you had individual shopkeepers owning and selling their wares. Again, it's all about fish, it's all about spices. Well, thanks a lot for joining us. 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