Herculaneum IV.16. Grande Taberna or bar with entrance in Cardo V Inferiore.
Linked to VI.15 and dwelling at VI.12-13. Excavated 1931-32.
Wallace-Hadrill described this as a shop, with marble veneered counter, grain and vegetables in containers; food and drink served to clients in rear room (with decoration predating the division of the room for a kitchen).
See Wallace-Hadrill, A., 1994. Houses and Society in Pompeii and Herculaneum. New Jersey: Princeton U.P. (p.201)
Part 1: Rooms on west side of bar-room Part 2: Rooms on south side of bar-room
Herculaneum IV.15-16, plan of Grande Taberna and linked house at VI.12-13.
According to Pesando and Guidobaldi, entrances at 12 and 13 serve the house living quarters.
1 and 2 are two living rooms, on west side of fauces 10, with two well-heads.
Atrium 3 has an impluvium in centre.
Cubiculum 4 opens onto atrium.
Small triclinium 5, in which was conserved the central emblema in opus sectile.
Corridor 11, from this corridor the living quarters connect with the bar room and connected rooms,
in room 13, served by entrances at 15 and 16 was the grand counter room with evidence of traces of a latrine in the south-east corner.
The rear rooms 6 and 7 on west side of shop-room, and a large room on the south side, subdivided by a rough screen into the actual rooms 8 and 9, all were rooms for the clients to sit and eat.
On the wall of the screen in room 6 is a graffito containing a sentence by the cynic philosopher Diogenes.
See Pesando, F. and Guidobaldi, M.P. (2006). Pompei, Oplontis, Ercolano, Stabiae. Editori Laterza, (p.336-7)
According to Cooley and Cooley, the graffito translated as -
Diogenes the cynic philosopher, seeing a woman being carried along by a river said, “Let one bad thing be carried away by another”. (CIL IV 10529).
See Cooley, A. and M.G.L., 2014. Pompeii and Herculaneum: A Sourcebook. London: Routledge, (p.104, D95).
According to Maiuri, this was the largest and richest shop so far discovered in Herculaneum, with two wide entrances, the larger on the decumanus and the smaller on the cardo. The selling counter, with a double podium faced with polychrome marble fragments, is placed well inside the shop so as to offer shelter and rest to customers instead of compelling them to remain on the pavement outside. There are eight dolia fixed into the base of the counter, which contained cereals and vegetables; another larger dolium is half-buried into a pilaster. There is a cooking stove in the south-east corner. Behind the shop are two rear shop-rooms separated by a slight partition of opus craticium; to the side are storerooms and offices formed by the merchant out of the finely decorated rooms of the original habitation. The position of this shop at an important crossroad, near a public fountain, must have made the fortune of the proprietor which explained the excellent furnishings of the shop itself, and the spaciousness of the living quarters attached to it.
See Maiuri, Amedeo, (1977). Herculaneum. 7th English ed, of Guide books to the Museums Galleries and Monuments of Italy, No.53 (p.59).
Fountain on corner of Ins. IV, at junction of Decumanus Inferior, on right, and Cardo V Inferiore, on left. Looking south.
May 2010. Entrance doorway to bar at IV.16, on the right.
Cardo V Inferiore, Herculaneum. October 2001.
Looking south towards fountain on corner near Ins. IV 16 on right. Photo courtesy of Peter Woods.
Cardo V Superiore, Herculaneum, May 2001.
Looking south towards junction with
Decumanus Inferiore, on right. Photo
courtesy of Current Archaeology.
Cardo V Superiore, west side, Herculaneum, July 2001.
Exterior wall on south side of entrance at
IV.16, looking west. Photo
courtesy of Nicolas Monteix.
IV.16, Herculaneum, September 2015. Threshold of doorway to shop-room
IV.16, Herculaneum, May 2006.
General view looking west across shop-room, with IV.15
entrance on right. Photo courtesy of
Nicolas Monteix.
IV.15/16 Herculaneum. Photo taken between October 2014 and November 2019.
Looking west towards counter. Photo courtesy of Giuseppe Ciaramella.
IV.16, entrance
doorway to same bar-room is on the right, with doorway onto Cardo V. Photo courtesy of Robert Hanson.
IV.16, Herculaneum, September 2015. Looking south-west across counter.
On the left, in the south-east corner, is a floor of tiles which has been interpreted as the presence of a trace of a latrine.
According to Maiuri, there was a cooking stone in the south-east corner.
IV.16, Herculaneum, August 2021. Looking south-west across
counter in bar-room. Photo courtesy of Robert Hanson.
IV.16, Herculaneum, August 2013.
Looking south-west across counter towards doorways to rear rooms. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
IV.16, Herculaneum. October 2001. Looking west across counter. Photo courtesy of Peter Woods.
In the south-west corner of the counter-room, behind the counter, is a doorway leading to two rooms probably used by the customers.
IV.15/16, Herculaneum, October 2012. Looking north-west towards room 6, used by the customers (behind the wooden fence).
On the left is the west wall of room 7. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
IV.15/16, Herculaneum, September 2003.
Looking north-east across upper room 7, towards upper room
6. Photo courtesy of Nicolas Monteix.
IV.15/16 Herculaneum, October 2012.
Looking towards west wall, with niche, of second room (7) for the use of customers. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
IV.15/16 Herculaneum, July 2001.
Room 7, west wall at southern end. Photo courtesy of Nicolas Monteix.
IV.15/16 Herculaneum, July 2001.
Room 7, west wall at northern end. Photo courtesy of Nicolas Monteix.
IV.15/16 Herculaneum, January 2002. Room 7, detail of west
wall at northern end. Photo courtesy
of Nicolas Monteix.
IV.15/16 Herculaneum, January 2002.
Room 7, detail of west wall at northern end. Photo courtesy of Nicolas Monteix.
IV.15/16 Herculaneum, January 2002.
Room 7, detail of west wall at northern end. Photo courtesy of Nicolas Monteix.
IV.15/16 Herculaneum, January 2002.
Room 7, detail of west wall at northern end showing
separation between lower and upper floors with holes for support beams for flooring.
Photo courtesy of
Nicolas Monteix.
IV.16, Herculaneum. October 2001. Detail of marble veneered counter-top with inset 8 dolia. Photo courtesy of Peter Woods.
IV.15/16, Herculaneum. 4th December 1971. Looking south-west
across counter-top with inset dolia.
On
the right is a modern glass display case demonstrating the types of pots, jars,
etc, that could have been found here.
Photo courtesy of Rick Bauer, from Dr George Fay’s slides collection.
IV.16, Herculaneum, August 2013. North end of counter, and display shelving. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
IV.16 and 15, Herculaneum, September 2015.
Looking north-west across counter, from IV.16 towards doorway at IV.15 on Decumanus Inferiore, on right.
IV.16 and 15 Herculaneum, October 2012. Looking north from rear of counter. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Part 2: Rooms on south side of bar-room