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Pompeii and
Herculaneum
Economy: Industries
and Occupations
“There is bias in the creation of evidence and bias in the selection of
evidence”
Agriculture/Fishing
Service Occupations
Food & Drink
Claire Benn
Agriculture/Fishing
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The economy of Pompeii and Herculaneum was primarily agricultural with a smaller
number of trade and crafts practiced.
Pompeii has been perceived as a bustling commercial centre, a vestibule of a house
reading, “Profit is joy.” The bigger wheel ruts seen in the streets of Pompeii compared
to Herculaneum also suggest a busier economy with epigraphic evidence suggestive
of trades and guilds around the walls of the town.
Herculaneum was a quieter fishing village, not as much evidence has been
uncovered as Pompeii as it was covered by 20m of volcanic residue; for example, the
Forum has not been excavated yet. The main industry was fishing, with fish hooks,
fish skeletons, nets, a boat and boat sheds discovered. The wood architecture of
vaulted chambers also suggests the capacity for boat storage.
Majority of people from Pompeii and Herculaneum relied strongly on the production of
wine and olive oil as their main sources of income. Grape vines grew plentifully in the
rich soil on the slopes of Vesuvius. From grapes, wine was produced and sold locally,
the demand for wine was great in Pompeii, as there were over 130 bars and taverns
in the city. Taverns themselves did not produce the wine, but relied on the big farm
cellars outside the walls of Pompeii.
Wheat was farmed to be crushed by volcanic stone for the bread industry; a thriving
trade in both towns with around 30 bakeries being excavated in Pompeii. Brick ovens
and lava stone mills were turned by donkies, their skeletons being found in the mills
of Herculaneum.
Grape Pressers
Wheat Harvesters
Vineyards
Fishermen
Grape/oil Pressers
{OCCUPATION}
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The Villa Regina at Boscoreale was excavated with cultivated land from 1977, there,
18 storage jars, a storage capacity of 10 000L, a grape press, signs of 195 stakes
and 300 vine cavities were discovered.
The production of olive oil was also essential to the economy. Oil was produced in the
same places as the wine; Boscoreale had enough storage jars to contain 5910 litres.
Olive oil was produced in large presses made from volcanic rock, and most of the
farms in Pompeii and Stabiae had their own presses and equipment. Oil was then
bought by shops in the town and used for cooking, lighting, bathing and also used in
some perfumes.
Villa Regina, Boscoreale; remains of a
wine press
Villa Regina, Boscoreale–18 Dolia
(wine vats)
Wheat Harvesters
{occupation}
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The production of wheat that grew in the extremely fertile soil, rich is phosphorus and
potash, was a vital element of the economy, providing many occupations.
Bread was additionally produced from the wheat crops in Pompeii and Herculaneum.
Around thirty pistrina (bakeries) were found in Pompeii with brick ovens and lava
stone mills which were turned by donkies. The donkies skeletons being found in the
mills of Herculaneum.
These millstones consisted of a hollow stone placed on top
of a second stone that was secured on masonry base. The
grain was ground finely between the two stones and came
out the bottom as flour. Then the flour was mixed with water
and other ingredients to form dough, which was then made
into bread. The baker would then sell the bread directly
from his shop.
Mill wheels used to grind flour, Pompeii 
Vineyards
{Industry}
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The slopes of Mt. Vesuvius in the mid 1st Century AD were covered with vines of
superior grapes, producing famous wines. Pliny the Elder recorded in Campania that
the vines, “never stopped growing.” Pliny states that the area was divided between
cereal crops and vines, the wine however was not well thought of by him. There is no
conclusive evidence that wine was exported to Rome or beyond in any great quantity.
In the town’s taverns, wine was stored in large clay jugs with signs outside the tavern
proclaiming their wares, such as the one in Herculaneum which read, ‘Come to the
sign of the Bowls.’
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Wine had an important role in the Romans’ lives, as seen from the graffiti scrawled on
one of the taverns’ walls, ‘Suavis demands full wine jars please, and his thirst is
enormous.’
• Professor Wilhelmina Jashemiski took plaster casts of the vine root systems of
Pompeii.
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Through the archaeological and written evidence, we understand that the wine
industry played an important part of Pompeii and Herculaneum’s economy.
Fishermen
{occupation}
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Fishing was the primary source of income for Herculaneum, it also remained a
fundamental source of income for Pompeii.
• The Macellum was a market located north of the Forum, where fruit, vegetables and
fish were sold. The remains of fish scales were found, and a wall painting inside a
house in Herculaneum depicts fishermen carrying products onto boats. The infamous
fish sauce, garum, was also produced in Pompeii, and was made out of the entrails of
fish such as roe and sardines. Garum became so popular that its creator, Marcus
Umbricius Scaurus, statue is displayed in the Forum.
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A large volume of fishing nets, bronze hooks, sinkers and fish skeletons have also
been discovered at Herculaneum. Many bodies were found trapped in the boat sheds
of Herculaneum as they hid there for refuge.
Boat shed facades of Herculaneum 
Service Occupations
& Industries
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Another industry that catered for the town’s need was the fulling industry. Sheep were
raised on the slopes of Vesuvius, and their wool was used to manufacture cloth.
Fulling consisted of several stages; raw wool was washed in a combination of earth,
potash and human urine, which was trodden on by slaves, it was then it hung in the
sun to dry and dyed with mineral or vegetable dyes. One of the largest fulling centres
was the Building of Eumachia, located in Pompeii’s Forum.
Prostitution was a business in Pompeii and Herculaneum where profits were taxed, it
was seen as a normal part of everyday life as there was no stigma attached to visiting
a brothel or tavern with dancing girls. No man was allowed to have sex with an
unmarried or widowed free-born woman unless she was a prostitute. 26 Brothels in
Pompeii were found, with paintings and frescoes covering the walls. The service was
provided in small dark rooms, in back streets or at the households of those wealthy
enough to do so. There is little mention of prostitution in Herculaneum.
A visit to the baths was an everyday activity in the Roman culture which would have
taken several hours of a day. The Suburban Baths in Herculaneum, funded by
Marcus Nonius Balbus, was an elegant complex. Many would have been
accompanied to the baths by their slaves who would have carried oil, soda and strigil
and helped disrobe their master or mistress.
Fulleries
Weavers & Dyers
Prostitutes
Bath
Attendants
Fulleries
{industry}
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The Fullery of Stephanus was a private house which was turned into a bleaching and
dying establishment. Tanks, basins and troughs were used for washing and dying.
Clothes were trodden and stomped by workers treading through an alkaline solution
of stale urine.
Fresco depicting fullers at
work, Fullery of Stephanus 
Weavers & Dyers
{occupation]
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The famous Fullery of Stephanus in Pompeii was a laundry installed in a dwelling on
the Via dell’ Abbondanza. At the entrance was a machine for pressing tunics. The
basin in the atrium was used for washing the fabrics. At the rear of the building, what
had been the peristyle, or courtyard, now contained basins for urine and other liquids
used in the dying process. In the smaller basins to the left, slaves pressed the cloth
with their feet. For urine collection, pots were placed outside the fullery and on street
corners for passers-by to use.
Fullonica of Stephanus - vats used for dying clothing.
Prostitutes
{occupation]
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Graffiti indicates that prostitutes were
from lower class families
Graffiti in the Stabiae baths of Pompeii
and Suburban baths in Herculaneum
suggests members of both of party
groups had food and prostitutes
brought in for their pleasure.
On the walls of many brothels in
Pompeii were the names of some of
the prostitutes and their visiting clients
Various erotic paintings on the walls of
alley ways and brothels advertised the
particular specialities of the women.
Erotic scene from a wall painting
of a private building in Pompeii.
Bath attendants/
slaves
{occupation}
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The apodyterium was the changing and waiting room of a bath with benches and
small niches or shelves for storing clothes.
Many were accompanied to the baths by slaves who carried their master or
mistress's items and may have helped undress them.
In the apodyterium, there were often paintings of the first phase of bathing, with a
repertory of erotic scenes.
The Suburban Bath complex was unearthed in 1958 and has recently been
excavated and restored.
The shelves in the
apodyterium where
clothes were stored after
assistance from slave;
Suburban Baths,
Herculaneum 
Food & Drink
• Graffiti evidence from shopping lists shows that bread was perhaps a daily purchase of
the Campania region citizens
• Garum was fermented fish sauce and the main condiment for food flavouring. Pliny the
Elder considered the garum of Pompeii to be of excellent quality, stating, “no other liquid
except ungents has come to be more highly valued.” Pottery garum containers used for
storage and trade of the fish sauce were revealed in most parts of Pompeii and
Herculaneum. The two towns’ main trade was with Spain, Cecily and Crete; majority of the
evidence suggesting trade is shown through pottery, such as garum jars from Pompeii
that were found in France. 70% of garum consumed was made locally, the rest was
imported from Spain.
• There are 200 dining and drinking places found so far in Pompeii. Tabernae (shops)
were located in the main commercial thoroughfare in Pompeii, densely cluttered past the
Amphitheatre and to the entrance gates. Bars and taverns in Herculaneum were mainly
found opposite the Palaestra. Wide openings onto the streets mark out the entrances of
shops and wine taverns.
•Vineyards were found in the country side, with 2014 vine root cavities found near the
amphitheatre. Most wine was produced in a Villa Rusticae with rooms inside for pressing
and fermentation. There were wine vats (dolia) discovered buried underground and a wine
shop in the main street of Herculaneum held lists and dates of the vintages on the wall.
Bakeries
Garum
Shop
Keepers
Wine Makers
Bakers and Bakeries
{occupation and industry}
Above: One of 81 loaves recovered from the oven
in the Bakery of Modestus.
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In the Reception room of a Pompeii
house, an original painting was found;
John Ward-Perkins and Amanda
Claridge determine the painting as a
baker giving bread to his customers.
However the painting can also be
interpreted as a candidate for political
office handing out bread to his
supporters. The formal dress of the
toga would be inappropriate for an
everyday baker. This theory is further
supported by a graffito on a Pompeii
street urging voters to make Gaius
Julius Polybius aedile; “He brings good
bread.” Michael Grant further
concludes that the painting is of “an
official of Pompeii seeking popularity
by making a free distribution of
loaves.”
Painting
from the
Reception
room of a
Pompeii
House 
Wine Makers
{occupation}
Reconstructed wine-press found in the Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii.
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Pliny the Elder, who did not think well of the wines of Pompeii and Herculaneum,
wrote, ‘it has been observed that Pompeian wines are rather dangerous as they may
cause a headache which lasts till noon on the following day’, (Natural History XIV 70).
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The wine press was involved in the process of wine making and is further supporting
evidence towards the production of wine.
Shop Keepers & Bar
Owners
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Fast food snack bars had a marble covered counter in which large dolia holding hot
drinks and dishes were incased (thermopolia). Food was either taken away or eaten
standing up. Some tabernae and bars had a room out the back with benches for
clients or couches for wealthier clients
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Graffitio found in Pompeii bar; “Cheers! We drink like wineskins.”
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Asellina employed foreign waitress’s, on the walls of her inn sums were scrawled
showing customers debts.
Thermopolium of Vetutius Placidus
Garum
{industry}
• Garum was the main condiment for food flavouring in
Pompeii and Herculaneum
• Pliny quotes that “no other liquid except ungents has come
to be more highly valued.”
• Evidence of trade; garum jars from Pompeii have been found
in France. Main trade was with Spain, Cecily and Crete.
Fish and birds mosaic
from Pompeii, showing
the importance of fish 
Above: In the Atrium at each
corner of the impluvium was
a black and white mosaic of
an amphora with an
inscription for the four
Roman fish sauces.