The ''popina'' (''plural: popinae'') was an ancient Roman

wine bar A wine bar is a tavern-like business focusing on selling wine, rather than liquor or beer. A typical feature of many wine bars is a wide selection of wines available by the glass. Some wine bars are profiled on wines of a certain type of origin, ...

, where a limited menu of simple foods (olives, bread, stews) and selection of wines of varying quality were available. The ''popina'' was a place for plebeians of the lower classes of Roman society (slaves, freedmen, foreigners) to socialise and in Roman literature they were frequently associated with illegal and immoral behaviour.

Etymology

The word is the

Osco-Umbrian The Osco-Umbrian, Sabellic or Sabellian languages are an extinct group of Italic languages, the Indo-European languages that were spoken in Central and Southern Italy by the Osco-Umbrians before being replaced by Latin, as the power of Ancient Rom ...

equivalent of

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''coquina'', from Latin ''coquere'' "to

cook Cook or The Cook may refer to: Food preparation * Cooking, the preparation of food * Cook (domestic worker), a household staff member who prepares food * Cook (professional), an individual who prepares food for consumption in the food industry * ...

Features and clientele

''Popinae'' were a type of wine bar generally frequented by the lower-classes and slaves, and were simply furnished with stools and tables. They provided food, drink, sex and gambling. Because they were associated with gambling and prostitution, the ''popinae'' were seen by respectable Romans as places of crime and violence. The early-2nd century AD Roman poet

Juvenal Decimus Junius Juvenalis (), known in English as Juvenal ( ), was a Roman poet active in the late first and early second century CE. He is the author of the collection of satirical poems known as the '' Satires''. The details of Juvenal's life ...

, even mentions the ''popina'' to be frequented by assassin, some sailors, thieves, fugitive slaves, executioners and coffin-makers. Although gambling with dice was illegal, it would appear from the large number of dice found at cities like Pompeii that most people ignored this law. Several wall paintings from Pompeian ''popinae'' show men throwing dice from a dice shaker. Prostitutes frequented ''popinae'', but as many of these wine bars found at Pompeii had no rooms provided with a bed, they must have met their customers at these bars then taken them elsewhere. The ''popina'' differs from the Roman ''caupona'' in that it did not provide overnight accommodation. The ''popina'' usually fronted streets and was separated by a broad doorway. A service counter in a L or U shape would be in the main room where workers likely served customers food and drink. Frequently, a small water heater would be included into the counter or located nearby. In some ''popina'', there would even be water basins embedded into the counter, such as in Ostia.

Modern discovery

Physical remains of

taverns A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food such as different types of roast meats and cheese, and (mostly historically) where travelers would receive lodging. An inn is a tavern that ...

and bars are found in well-preserved Roman cities. About 120 ''popinae'' were identified in Pompeii, but many of them might have been misidentified. The taverns are often identified by evidence of storage jars set into them. However, regular shops also contained those storage jars. Some believed that the food and drink was sometimes catered when it was requested by a customer.

References

Bibliography

* {{cite book , last1=Potter , first1=David S. , title=A Companion to the Roman Empire , date=2008 , publisher=John Wiley & Sons , isbn=978-1-4051-7826-6 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F5wAfRUNxRQC , language=en * William Stearns Davis, ed., ''Readings in Ancient History: Illustrative Extracts from the Sources,'' 2 Vols. (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1912–13), Vol. II: ''Rome and the West'', pp. ?? *John DeFelice, Roman Hospitality: The Professional Women of Pompeii; Marco Polo Monographs,2001 *Beard, Mary, ''The Fires of Vesuvius: Pompeii Lost and Found,'' Harvard University Press, 2010. Types of drinking establishment

Etymology

Features and clientele

Modern discovery

See also

References

Bibliography