TABERNAE AT OSTIA

Preface:
Many of our stories are about the history of a Roman port city, the development, the construction
of the port and the trade that was conducted. From time to time we also want to show you
something of everyday life in a Roman port city. What was everyday life like? How was a city
organized?
Today, on the basis of an article by the Dutch archaeologist Miko Flohr1, I wanted to tell you
more about the small shopkeeper in a (port) city, the operator of a shop, bar or a small workshop:
the taberna  2.

Photo 1: Relief of a shop where food was sold. (probably Ostia?)

What is a taberna?
Originally a taberna was a one-room shop for the sale of goods or for services. They already
existed in the Roman Empire before the republic. They were often part of a house, where the
owner of the house sold the trade himself or rented the premises to third parties. Usually there
were two tabernae on either side of the fauces (main entrance).
Photo 2: Insula "Casa di Diana" in Ostia with tabernae in the facades.
When the population expands sharply during the imperial period, private houses disappear and
mainly insulae (residential blocks with several floors) appear, there is an increasing need for
commercially exploited facilities. In the facades of insulae we see many tabernae on the ground
floor and sometimes the entire ground floor is occupied by shops. These shops had a vaulted
opening on the street side that took up almost the entire width and which could be closed in the
evening with two wooden door partitions that were pushed in a groove in the threshold and
locked.
Apparently, the taberna was merely a merchant's warehouse, a craftsman's workshop, or the
sales area for a small merchant, but in one corner was often a small four- or five-step brick
staircase leading to a wooden ladder. This ladder gave access to a half attic that was lighted
through a small window in the centre above the door. This attic could be used for storage, but
often the tenant of the taberna lived here with his family.
It has been said that in the case of a tenant who was in arrears with payment the ladder was
removed by the landlord so that he was cut off from his source of income. The usual
expression percludere inquilinum (closing a tenant) was in this case synonymous with forcing
the tenant to pay.
Photo 3: Taberna with steps leading to the attic. Also pay attention to the support beams of the
attic.3
When the demand for commercial space increases even more, as we will see in the article below,
buildings are also being built specifically for the creation of tabernae; long lines of shops along a
street or even some sort of shopping center such as the Marcato Traiano in Rome or the
Caseggiato del Larario (I, IX, 3) in Ostia (see photo 6).

The following article takes you along the western part of Ostia's great main street, the
Decumanus Maximus. This runs from the Forum to the Porta Marina, the city gate on the sea
side.

 
Photo 4: Tabernae with slots in the threshold to place the wooden doors
 

Tabernae and commercial investment along the western decumanus in Ostia

From a report by Miko Flohr

The streets of Roman cities were generally dotted with shops, and the public domain was mainly
dominated by daily commerce. As negatively as some classical authors wrote about these local
merchants and craftsmen, there is no doubt that, particularly because of their abundant presence,
they set the mood of many a Roman city. This is also the case in Ostia, from the republic to the
last person who left the city and closed the door for ever.
A key element in this commercial dominance was the taberna, a multi-functional commercial
facility consisting of a large space with a wide entrance on the street side. Often there were one
or two other rooms behind or above the main room.
Photo 5: Row of tabernae with windows for daylight in the attic.
Various scientists have already researched this in recent decades.
Ray Laurence4 mapped out the shops present in Pompeii, showing that streets closer to the center
of the city were more commercialized than the streets in more distant neighbourhoods and what
kind of impact that had on the social landscape of Pompeii.
Janet DeLaine5 has made the same analysis for Ostia. She distinguished between the different
types of commercial locations that played a role in the trade and retail trade and divided
the tabernae into four basic categories:

 tabernae along the main roads;

 tabernae belonging to important public buildings;
 tabernae along secondary roads and dead ends that may or may not be closed off
from the main roads:
 tabernae in purpose-built markets or bazaars.
Foto 6: Caseggiato del Larario in Ostia.
In addition to the occupancy rate, this subdivision also shows much better than in older analyzes
what the nature of the tabernae was.
Both Laurence and DeLaine analysed the commercial landscape for a certain moment in time
(for Pompeii 79 AD and for Ostia the second century6).
It becomes a completely different story when we try to analyse how that urban commercial
landscape has developed throughout history and which people and decisions played a role in it.
This will be quite difficult for Ostia, because a large part of the city of Ostia, especially outside
the city wall, has not yet been excavated.