Bars and Restaurants in Ancient Rome

[@MinedMaker]

Recently I went to Pompeii and had a guided tour. Our Italian guide told us about the eruption and the death without much heartbreak. Then he got to talking about the roman wine and he became a broken man. :D

[@Martial-Mat]

😆

[@trenaceandblackmetal5621]

Least romantic Italian man

[@Martial-Mat]

@@trenaceandblackmetal5621 😆 That is totally true. That's alcoholism for you 😏

[@garyfrancis6193]

Understandable.

[@eliteviktor3]

The guides are full of it lol

[@kiernansfault48]

Your descriptions of these day to day things literally takes me there and makes me realize how similar we are to them.

[@BigSwift9]

“Scribonius Pulcher invites those who enjoy strong wine to come to his establishment, the Happy Phoenix. Over 100 plebes have left positive reviews on Clamor, attesting to the good quality of unwatered wine, as well as savory rat and pigeon offerings.”

[@NorthForkFisherman]

"It's where my vwey great fwend Biggus met hiw wuvly wife, Incontinentia." - Pontius, Praefect of Judea.

[@desdicadoric]

😂😂 excellent

[@Nightscape_]

My favorite part about being retired is going down to the local winery and letting my dog run around, get hugs and rubs from people, while I do some reading and relaxing. Kentucky wine is great but overshadowed by the bourbon here.

[@dstaff7373]

You ever been to the Jim Beam Distillery??

[@virtualcircuit]

Any country pub in England or Ireland at the end of the week and weekend and you will see this too. Dogs, fireplaces and pints of ale. Whiskey or Bourbon will usually come out if you stay late ;)

[@thomashazlewood4658]

When I went through Pompeii, it was raining. There were few others to be even seen. The rain and the quiet made it a very solemn visit. Awesome!

[@m.e.345]

Yes.. I too found that crowds of tourists tend to get in the way of communing with the ghosts of the past.. 🙂

[@RareTS]

that sounds amazing

[@Hmfirestormz]

Yo, I also went in the winter when it was drizzling. It was amazing the city was empty except for a couple of people here and there

[@garyfrancis6193]

Last time I was in Pompeii, I guess 1993, none of these places were open. In Milan near the duomo there were a number of establishments run by Gaius Ronaldus McDonaldus.

[@FrankyBabes]

Few things have made me feel closer to ancient *people* than my trip to Pompeii. Now, when I go out to get a pasty on my lunch break, I think about those street-facing eateries with the fresco signage. Even if I'm barbarously wearing trousers as I do so.

[@kenjitakashima1041]

at least you're not drinking beer right?

[@zackwaffen9210]

If you are not from there, then they are not your people.

[@FrankyBabes]

@@kenjitakashima1041 I can neither confirm nor deny---

[@MM22966]

"Franky", eh? Just another Germanic barb, loose in the heartland, wearing trousers...

[@Martial-Mat]

"I think about those street-facing eateries" What a wonderful connection to the ancient world. I love it when somewhere leaves you with that feeling, although I've not had the privilege of connecting to somewhere quite so far in the past.

[@stanleythermos7022]

I think the nereid in the painting is Salacia, goddess of salt, and indicates that salt was sold there.

[@psammiad]

Very simple to standing bars you'll see in Naples and many other Italian cities today.

[@skysthelimit7579]

The more things change, the more they stay the same

[@Ian_Bungy]

When i visited Pompeii last year, i made sure to go to the restaurant caupona right outside of the ruins by the port entrance. In addition to being the best meal i had in italy, the experience was like stepping into a time machine. It felt as if i had walked right into 1st century italy.

[@krisinsaigon]

I’ve been to Ostia and seen those, they’re fantastic I’ve just realized something now watching this- I live in HCMC Vietnam, and they have a similar restaurant culture to Ancient Rome, lots of small cheap places cooking dishes that are too time consuming or impractical to make at home, and I’ve realized these little cheap establishments have pretty much the same lay out inside as these ancient Roman ones- the way the food is served at the shop front, the shutters for nighttime, the interiors. They have the same kind of counters with food in them, chicken, duck, fish, pork, snails too. I suppose when a design is as good as it can be for what it needs to accomplish it doesn’t change

[@lelagrangeeffectphysics4120]

So a convergent evolution of sorts... wonder if its also tied to the culture and mode of operation of a country.

[@NorthForkFisherman]

Well, Vietnam was colonized by the French for quite some time - and the French (Gauls) probably brought that with them and fused it with existing Vietnamese ways I'd assume. It would be a great thing to study.

[@krisinsaigon]

@@NorthForkFisherman I don’t think so, I think it’s an example of convergent evolution, which in biology is when two species independently evolve the same body plan or trait because they are subject to the same evolutionary pressures Another example would be the way houses in dense alleyways here are often built in a Tudor style - with the second floor jutting out over the first floor There is though a relic of the Roman empire in Vietnam brought here by the French and I never realized it before I studied Latin In the UK, if a house repeats the same number as the one prior to it, it is listed as “b” (34 & 34b for example). In Saigon, a second house has ‘bis’ (34 & 34bis) this is Latin, and means twice

[@krisinsaigon]

@@lelagrangeeffectphysics4120 yes! I just wrote the same thing before I saw your comment!

[@NorthForkFisherman]

@@krisinsaigon As a biologist, the metaphor of convergent evolution is an apt one. In the end, society is as much an organism as is the individual human animal. And as far as "with the second floor jutting out over the first floor" I've seen one of those same designs as a way of getting around taxes. In Italy, I believe, there is a home that occupies a rather small plot. However....the upper stories are MUCH larger. Almost to the point of being unstable. It's how they got around the assessment on the amount of land occupied.

[@hydroac9387]

I see you featured a line drawing by David Macaulay at the end of the video! It is nice to see his work "City: A Story of Roman Planning and Construction" so honored ~40 years after it was completed! Well done!

[@John_Fugazzi]

Nero I knew about but I had no idea that Lucius Verus went slumming in bars. There's always something to learn here.

[@Deepthought-42]

Sounds very much like the places I used to frequent in my misspent youth 🤣

[@raffriff42]

“I spent half my money on gambling, alcohol and wild women. The other half I wasted.”

[@robinharwood5044]

As one who has travelled widely, and spent a fair amount of time in the less salubrious parts, I can say that these sorts of establishments have a lot in common wherever you go in the world.

[@Deepthought-42]

@@raffriff42 Note to self: Stop wasting money 👍🤣

[@ReaperCH90]

​@@Deepthought-42he only wasted half of it, the rest was imvested

[@Whitelightnin76]

Who knew dive bars had such a long history? Nothing has changed in 2000 years.

[@TheBenchPressMan]

go back another 2000 and they where the same in Assyria

[@jimc.goodfellas]

I honestly hadn't thought of Ancient Rome in DAYS ...what exactly were they snorting?

[@TheRaptorsClaw]

You've been slacking with your daily Roman Empire thoughts, soldier! Back to it! And presumably the historian was just annoyed at the lack of civility as snorting loudly is considered impolite, but like yourself I do wonder if it's a reference to something more that perhaps archaeologists have not considered much. Did Rome have a drugs scene? What substances did they have access to?

[@MultiTsbaby]

@@TheRaptorsClaw i would love to know as well. Humans have been doing drugs since time immemorial. I wouldn't be surprised!

[@Notimportant253]

@@TheRaptorsClawmaybe opium and hemp? I’m sure at least aristocrats were able to get these things. Who knows about the everyday plebeians tho, their lives are all pretty much forgotten by the ongoing march of history and its tendency to only remember great, significant glamorous men and women.

[@abtl1154]

Garum

[@Anson120]

No Flamingo tongue topped with Garum for me thank you. Gag. Toldinstone's narration is so perfect it sounds AI generated. He has a gift.

[@toldinstone]

No AI - just a lot of editing

[@23Scadu]

How about a bag of otters' noses then?

[@AndrewBlucher]

AI? What an insult. To the arena with you!

[@MrYfrank14]

AI is easy to spot. It has rhe strangest pronunciation of words that you will ever hear in your life. Flamingo would be Florida ming o.

[@AndrewBlucher]

@@MrYfrank14 So far. It's getting better :-(

[@sarahd1250]

Oh I would love to know more about Roman houses, layouts, amenities, etc

[@avishalom2000lm]

6 :12- "Lucius Callidus Eroticus" "Fannia Voluptas" And I thought "Naughticus Maximus" and "Biggus Dickus" were out there!

[@ktm4042]

Im going to try and use Fannia voluptas as a pick up line lol

[@dj-kq4fz]

I know I've said it before, but the sight gags really pay off! Thanks!

[@benwaardenburg]

Based on the fact that there were bars that prided themselves in having rare and unique wines I can assume there were wine snobs as well.

[@howiequ1]

Good to know they've existed since time immorial

[@ermaek2145]

Bars in ancient Rome sound like fun!

[@nudan77]

The Yelp! review ⭐️⭐️😂 Fantastic video! Thank you!

[@MatthewTheWanderer]

Extremely fascinating! I love videos about how ancient people really lived!

[@Mursmurs325]

I know this might be a weird topic, but could you do an episode about Roman footwear? Did Romans wear sandals indoors, or would they walk barefoot at home? What did they wear when it got really cold? What kind of footwear did soldiers use when trekking through harsh regions and climates? What was considered fashionable? How did the designs and materials of Roman footwear evolve over time?

[@GamersSanctum]

You should do a video on the unique food of ancient Rome/Greece. Most famous plant would be the silphium for its multiple use cases.

[@matthuck378]

6:54 (complaining about the lower classes in bars) Of course they were. They didn't have kitchens. Upper class creates problem with their greed, then shifts blame and complains about it. Some things never change.

[@Eimear..]

It’s sad that this is reality

[@Slickgoodlin]

"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious" Obi Wan Kenobi's review of the Mos Eisley Spaceport Cantina....probably similar to Rome's tabernae.

[@MM22966]

Look, it's not like anybody's going to get their hand cut off if they go th-...oops.

[@llanitedave]

At least they don't serve droids!

[@march11stoneytony]

So incredible. One of my favourite videos from you

[@paulkoza8652]

My visit to Pompeii highlighted much of the information you have provided in this video. One question comes to mind starting at 0.15. You mention the rich and the poor. Who were the middle class in Roman cities and how much of the population did they account for?

[@toldinstone]

It's hard to say - and of course it would depend on how one defined "middle class." Ancient Rome was generally a society of haves and have-nots, but the tombstones of (for example) entrepreneurial freedmen suggest that many skilled craftsmen would have been middle class. So would have many retired legionaries, thanks to the massive bonus they received upon discharge.

[@AndrewBlucher]

​@@toldinstoneSounds a lot like current day America. All the more so since the so called founding fathers thought they were recreating Rome.

[@jackpriddy1591]

@@AndrewBlucherthe modern “southern european” lifestyle is very simple and romanesque. In my experience anyway.

[@gow2ilove]

Love this. Been waiting for a new video. Perfect timing, thank you as always

[@stanislavkostarnov2157]

a nice balance between reflecting the prejudices of the time and yet recognizing the bias of surviving records, an interesting calm yet viviant look at this part of Roman life... as I think I mentioned, the city where I live has a few Taberna having been in almost continuous use since the Roman period... today, the great stone basins contain mostly Humus and Various kinds of spicy beans, sweetened meats, being more of a commodity is kept in separate smaller enclosed jars... what is probably different is the ever smoldering frankincense for the Hukkah/Quallyan and the presence of coffee, but that's my guess. I do have to wonder though how close are those places in Jaffa now to what would have been seen in there place in the 1st/2nd century, the mosaics are often still there, what about the rest.

[@jonnyqwst]

Reminds me of a food court at the mall

[@superfuzzymomma]

Did anyone take out? You know, grab a vessel of wine to enjoy it back at his apartment?

[@toldinstone]

People probably brought pots or bottles to be filled at the bar

[@superfuzzymomma]

@toldinstone Thank you, always wondered if there were less gregarious or social people in the society.

[@sba8710]

@@toldinstonethe origin of the growler

[@IanWilkinson-c4b]

@@sba8710 Omg the "growler" Did you see those commercials for jolly farmers too lol

[@SentMyOwnWay]

This is my favorite video on your channel so far

[@DuncanL7979]

Why this one?

[@SentMyOwnWay]

@@DuncanL7979I’m digging the tiny details he put into this one

[@Blackwolf-of5kx]

The other day I met a man who said there was a country with a wall that went from the sea halfway across the continent these bars really have to start diluting their wine more

[@joeblow9657]

I loved this video. Now whenever I got the bar for a drink and a meal, I won't feel like I'm spending too much money, I'm just living like a Roman!!

[@NorthForkFisherman]

just remember to puke like a Roman too!

[@garrettmaddrill5931]

Hello, a question from a fellow Garrett! Could you do an episode or even footnote on cannabis use in the Roman empire? Cannabis has been a tradition for generations in my family and I know a little about it's presence in the empire. I'd love any information you may have!

[@CarputingYT]

Great topic

[@AttitudeIndicator]

Thanks

[@Zomrem]

wonderful, as always!

[@uaeaae]

Rome lives on in our hearts... and Pubs

[@drewbrew444]

"Babe, I'm not going to the local dive bar with the boys to drink watered down well drinks, I'm going to the local taberna to drink watered down local wines out of pottery with my fellow patrons! It's cultured, you wouldn't get it!"

[@glenrich-uu9zr]

The earliest buffets service bar!

[@littleNorwegians]

Sometimes you wanna go Where everybody knows your name And they're always glad you came You wanna be where you can see (ah-ah) Our troubles are all the same (ah-ah) You wanna be where everybody knows your name

[@AndrewBlucher]

Great idea for a newfangled streaming series!

[@lissamissa8618]

I think one of the most jaw-dropping experiences I had in Rome is walking back home from a bar with my half drunk friends and just casually passing by the Colosseum at 3 AM. Just knowing that people did the exact same thing over two millennia ago, walking the same streets, is truly a testament to how timeless human nature is. The Colosseum at night is even prettier than in the day, a must see for sure.

[@bonto117]

Thank you.

[@77heraclitus]

Super video. Thanks!

[@djpuplex]

Piss warm watered down wine and volcanic Armageddon. Pompeii was hell of a place.

[@DyslexicMitochondria]

People were dying to get there

[@sterlingarcher8041]

@@DyslexicMitochondria lol nice to see you here bruv. Love your content. Keep fighting the good fight

[@jeffreywilliams3421]

THE PHOENIX IS HAPPY.

[@djpuplex]

@@DyslexicMitochondria more like died trying to leave

[@abmindprof]

@@jeffreywilliams3421 and so are you!

[@diannewheatleygiliotti8513]

Thanks!

[@toldinstone]

Deeply appreciated!

[@DonariaRegia]

One thing ancient Romans enjoyed that few living in modern American cities do, is fresh baked bread, still warm from the ovens. We do have plentiful meat, fruit and vegetables that they would envy. Cold bread is a small price to pay for civilization.

[@MM22966]

I don't miss the odd bit of stone grit in my bread, either.

[@AndrewBlucher]

Plentiful meat, fruit and vegetables ... full of adulterating chemicals. Have you compared US food standards to other Western countries?

[@godisgooey]

Interesting you should say that. I remember being able to get fresh baked bread from several places in Los Angeles, New York and New Orleans. I imagine other major cities have that as well in the US. It made me wonder where you live. I did a quick Internet search, and there are many bakeries in many of the major cities in the US that you can walk into in the morning after the bread has just come out of the oven and have it piping hot. Hope you can find that locally in the city you’re in. Even when I would go back to visit my family in Oregon in the middle sized town there there were three or four bakeries you could get bread and pastries out of convection ovens, and one was even woodburning and served pizzas in the evening.

[@ladywisewolf3942]

Humans will always be "human", it's in our nature. Our surroundings and inventions may change but we will always have the same wants, desires, fears, nostalgia and emotions. Something the transhumanists and futurists never account for.

[@Zestfullemur]

Terrible Tiberna, wine was tasteless and more like water and the “authentic Celtic singer” they had was just a southern Germanian woman. Food was overpriced and the bar owner was a Caesar supporter. 0 stars, would not recommend.

[@_Imperium_7]

Caesar supporter? Well, that’s a star in my books. What do you have against us Plebeians, mate?

[@cristhianramirez6939]

And he was wearing the MRGA hat (Make Rome Great Again)

[@nate_d376]

Awesome video. It really brought a little known slice of these people's daily lives to, well, life... It seems like a strange way to operate, but if that was all you knew, it would be normal. Would love to know what went in those pots built into the counters. Guess just trash pits? And the cleanliness wasn't too high back then either. Wonder how many people would get food poisoning.

[@dot2562]

ahh fava beans...and a nice chianti😮😮

[@jollyroger35]

6:51 In some ways things haven't changed all that much.

[@johnbean2037]

kudos 2 the barkeep errh... video editor.

[@ReaperCH90]

Kinda interesting how that layout concept basically survived into modern day Italy, with its bars (in english rather a café) or gelaterie.

[@evilsponge6911]

So a Bithynian, Sarmatian, and a Nubian walk into a bar...

[@mfaizsyahmi]

A dog walks into a bar and says, 'I cannot see a thing. I'll open this one.'

[@mileslong3904]

Select clientele only.

[@FiatLuxSayRelax]

Swell and informative video, but I wanted to ask if whether Romans had a food delivery of some sort?

[@foobee2]

Any information about the painting at 7:35 ? It's exceptional.

[@foobee2]

To answer my own question, it's "Scene of Ancient Rome" by Prospero Piatti. I can't stop staring at it, it's remarkably life-like, and the harsh noon sun light contrasted to the shade of the umbrella is striking.

[@festungkurland9804]

Beautiful thank you

[@0_1_2]

Yay no ridiculous advertisement just great history. Thank you. Reminds me of the old days of your channel

[@dodiswatchbobobo]

He always segments his videos, literally all you need to do is tap the screen twice and he gets paid either way

[@Martial-Mat]

Hey Garrett, how accurate do you think the depiction of bars in the series Rome was?

[@ImmortalDuke]

Skull half full

[@coyotemojo]

@2:26 pause for image search, disappointment when results disappear in shopping tab

[@525Lines]

The snorting could be the intake of sneezing tobacco or drugs, I guess, but it's also a way to get rid of snot by drawing it into the throat. That's more of an Asian thing these days.

[@b.a.erlebacher1139]

Tobacco is a western hemisphere plant, so they wouldn't have had it.

[@philipzahn491]

"I ate his liver at a taberna with fava beans and a fine falerna."

[@jec1ny]

Facere viam tuam in mundo hodie Tollit omnia nunc demum istaec nata Accipiens intermissum ab omnibus curarum Certus ut adiuvet multum Non vis effugere? Omnes illae noctes cum lumina nulla habes Perscriptio in manibus tabellariorum est Et angelus tuus Pependerunt cattus est ab ea caudam Et tertia sponsus non ostendit Interdum habes ire Ubi nescit nomen tuum Et semper gaudeo te advenisse Habes ubi potes videre (ah-ah) Nostrae molestias idem sunt (ah-ah) Habes ubi omnes novit nomen tuum...

[@Lucius1958]

"SALVE NORME!"

[@WinstonSmithGPT]

@@Lucius1958 😂

[@charlesandrews2360]

Rome was very dangerous at night. Most people didn't go out after sundown.

[@kidmohair8151]

while there may not have been any "upscale" restaurants, it does seem, by your descriptions of the ones you have researched, that there were some that had pretensions to such a condition.

[@IblameBlame]

Can you show us some of the reviews Herodotus wrote with his yelp profile?

[@kathleensavoy1736]

Does "Fannia Voluptas" mean what I think it means? Don't get me wrong, if you're one of the trailblazers in your profession, I think it's just dandy if your work name is so on-the-nose as "Thicc Fanny"! But just wanted to confirm since it's been many years since high school Latin lessons.

[@toldinstone]

It's hard to translate exactly, but Mary Beard (perhaps politely) rendered it as "Madame Gorgeous"

[@weefek]

sounds like basically medieval europe.

[@kotzpenner]

Excellent for a Rome based DnD campaign

[@Sabrowsky]

I would now like a latin cover of The Chats' song "Pub Feed" because it seems like the lyrics fit to this

[@maggoli67]

The source of the expression: greasy spoon.

[@57z]

Ah yes. Nothing like the fresh taste of fava bean purified wine. Yummy

[@vangraff3478]

2:18 isn't it more like. The Phoenix is happy, are you? Or and you?

[@robinharwood5044]

Lucius Callidus Eroticus and Fannie Voluptas were probably friends of Naughtius Maximus and Biggus Diccus.

[@daveorilian5100]

we learnt about insulae but what did the actual apartment look like for normal/poor people? Was there storage? where did they get beds from?

[@RiservaDucale0r0]

Shout out to paddy’s pub!!

[@kkupsky6321]

Jims has the best garum. If you’re in Philadelphia it beats pats and Geno. No. I meant cheesesteaks.pretty sure that’s universal thru the ages. Mmmmm. Jims.

[@kkupsky6321]

They have these tomato and vinegar sauce in packed you can get tho. It’s made from cats sup. But I will catch up eventually.

[@NorthForkFisherman]

The one thing that is the same throughout the known universe is "Swedish Meatballs" or something very similar. #IYKYK

[@TW_SlingStone]

How would they purify spoiled wine that would be an interesting video.

[@levij4]

I thought the sign of wines and prices at 3:51 was from Herculaneum and not Pompeii. If not, please tell me which house or section of the city I could find this on the next visit

[@peepance1799]

Norm translates to Normus

[@misterangel8486]

Waiter!☝️ there is a piece of lava in my Vino Pompei AD 79🍷😤🌋 Eeeuh waiter? why are you running..I want a refuhhhoowh😱😶🔥🌋😂

[@2IDSGT]

Hang on a minute... the carts had giant bladders of wine that were transferred into amphorae? Like the bladders we use for fuel in the Army?

[@joseph6270]

2:00 I know "felix" from feliz navidad and "et tu" from et tu brute, is this what its like to be able to read latin?

[@sba8710]

I rarely see any Roman glass.

[@NorthForkFisherman]

Rich, rich, RICH is why. Good quality glass was insanely expensive.

[@raymondrogers3929]

I wonder whether it was necessary to line the containers with pitch to hold soups and porriges. Would it be sufficient to line the containers with animal fat, or would the vessels gunk up over time as to be water impermeable. The shells and bones might be a filler or a flavor enhancer, and not a heap of scrap. I find it hard to believe that vessels were created for scrap or garbage when rubbish could simply be swept on the floor

[@Zourkoskey]

First! Love your videos btw.

[@truthinesssss]

👍

[@missingthe80s58]

Emperors trying to close bars for fear they're hotbeds for uprisings...sounds just a bit like 1770's Charelston, Philly, New York or particularly Boston.

[@Torgomasta]

Beer hall putsch as well

[@missingthe80s58]

@@Torgomasta Ah yes the tragic origin story of a rejected artist turned super villain.

[@charlesgantz5865]

Did the women frequent the same establishments as the men, or did they have their own place to go to eat. And did families dine together?

[@essenceofsuchness]

Could the sign mean the phoenix is lucky? How do we know which meaning was intended?

[@hoytoy100]

Prototype pub, Biergarten, piazza.

[@tchapps1]

Snorting? "Sumamus sacculum." - some Roman guy (probably)

[@BrotherHoodofTheDogxix]

I miss the clothes more than anything. Food second.

[@a24-45]

the mosaic depicting food fragments at 4:38... does anyone know what they are? i can see seashells and crustacean claws, a plant and a chicken foot, but what are the other things?