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• Message 1.聽

  Posted by s_tephen (U7458872) on Monday, 25th June 2007

  I'm trying to get some insights into the social & economic aspects of the roman colosseum on the micro scale. Ie. Were there food venders selling goods within the arena, what did they sell (pizza's ) Also how much did the numerous prostitutes that waited outside the colosseum charge for their favours? Did they have crowd control? And anything else along the same lines.
  Sorry about the title, thought it might grab the attention!
  Thanks

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• Message 2

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  Posted by Helena99 (U8659848) on Monday, 25th June 2007

  I seem to remember Life of Brian had some info about the fast food available during gladitorial fights......all fairly disgusting sounding nibbles alas.
  
  Helena
  
  

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  Posted by Meles meles (U1765136) on Monday, 25th June 2007

  S_tephen,
  
  For prices of prostitutes you could look into some of the graffiti in Pompeii although I know this will date from a bit before the Roman Coliseum was built. Pompeii had its own amphitheatre with all the usual fornication that went on in the fornices beneath the stands. It also had several brothels. And for those looking for something between a knee-trembler and the full bordello experience, there were a number of minute rooms set into the walls of back streets.
  
  As well as giving actual prices the graffiti make superb reading and give a real flavour for everyday Roman life. I would have included my favourite, but I鈥檓 pretty sure it would be deemed far too risqu茅 by the mods
  
  Some examples of graffiti which might help you are:
  
  鈥淚f anyone sits here, let him read this first of all: if anyone wants a 搂@*#, he should look for Attice; she costs 4 sestertii鈥� (above a bench outside the Marine Gate)
  
  鈥淗ere Harpocras had a good 搂@*# with Drauca for a denarius鈥� (in a brothel)
  
  鈥淚 am yours for 2 asses cash鈥� (prostitutes sign in a back street)
  
  鈥淓uplia sucked it for five asses鈥� (on a street wall)鈥�
  鈥�.. proper brothels were clearly more expensive than ordinary street walkers.
  
  To get a feel for these prices they can be compared with other graffiti:
  e.g. bar tabs:
  鈥渨ine for the winner 1 denarius, bread 8, wine 2, cheese 2鈥�
  
  鈥�??? 1 denarius, bread 2, for women 8, wheat 1 denarius, cucumber 1, dates 1, incense 1, cheese 2, sausage 1, soft cheese 4, oil 7鈥�
  
  鈥淪ome nuts 鈥�? ; drinks : 14 coins; lard: 2 coins; bread: 3 coins; three meat cutlets: 12 coins; four sausages: 8 coins. Total: 51 coins鈥� (asses or denarii?)
  
  and adverts:
  "You can get a drink here for an as, a better drink for two, Falernian for four.鈥�
  
  NB In the time of Nero:
  4 quadrans = 1 as
  4 asses = I sestertius
  4 sestertii = 1 denarius
  
  Hope that's of some help,
  
  Meles
  

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  Posted by Meles meles (U1765136) on Monday, 25th June 2007

  s_tephen,
  
  And now the food.
  
  I鈥檓 not sure how practical it would have been to serve hot foods from temporary booths and I have an idea that legislation was passed at various times to control what sort of foods could be sold by inns, bars, street-traders etc. in part to maintain food standards but also to reduce the ever present risk of fire. It was outside the Circus Maximus in the arcades of wooden booths (tabernae) inhabited by 鈥渃ooks, astrologers and prostitutes鈥�, that the disastrous fire of AD 64 broke out during the reign of Nero (Tacitus, Annals XV).
  
  In and immediately around the Coliseum I鈥檓 sure there would have been sellers of olives, nuts, fruit, radishes, sweetmeats like honey cakes and fruit tarts, stuffed bread rolls, and vine leaf or cabbage leaf parcels etc. Outside in the surrounding bars or in the booths under the stands I would have thought one could have got hot fast food type snacks, things like: grilled or fried sausages, black pudding and meat or seafood rissoles; boiled meatballs and egg, seafood or meat dumplings; hot or cold roast meats; and in better class joints maybe small roasted birds such as quail, pigeon, thrush etc. All these dishes would be served with the ubiquitous fermented fish-pickle sauce (garum or liquamen) slathered on much like ketchup in a modern burger bar! And to drink of course wine, but usually watered down.
  
  If you want details of actual recipes I suggest you find a copy or modern interpretation of Apicius, which is the only comprehensive cookery book from Roman times. The book dates from the end of the Roman Empire, about 400 AD, but the text itself is probably older. Apicius was the name of a legendary gourmet of 400 years earlier under Augustus. The book is clearly named after him but I鈥檓 not sure if any of it is actually his. Many of the recipes demand expensive ingredients but it is nevertheless a practical book. It鈥檚 written in lower class Latin, and clearly is not a book for rich men to read in bed, but for cooks to use. My above suggestions for suitable fast food all come from Apicius.
  
  Going back to prices of bar food and prostitutes there鈥檚 also this scrap of conversation which was written on an inn wall in Roman Isernia as an advertvertisment to catch the traveller鈥檚 eye:
  
  -Landlord, the bill please.
  -That鈥檒l be one sestertii for the wine, one for the bread and two for the side dishes
  -Fine
  -And eight for the girl.
  -That鈥檚 fine too.
  -And two for the hay for your donkey.
  -That donkey鈥檚 going to be the ruin of me!
  
  Regards, Meles
  

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  Posted by Meles meles (U1765136) on Monday, 25th June 2007

  s_tephen,
  
  Just had a few more thoughts:
  Gladiatorial 鈥済ames鈥� were nearly always sponsored by someone whether as an attempt to gain popularity or political advantage, to honour ancestors, or just to make money. Sponsors therefore put up posters advertising their games and emphasising all the extras they were laying on e.g. refreshing perfumed water to be sprayed on the guests, free food parcels, free wine, an awning to be rigged over the seats, a lottery etc.
  e.g. Pompeii wall graffiti again:
  鈥淭he gladiatorial troupe of Aulus Suettius Certus will fight at Pompeii on 31 May. There will be a hunt and awnings鈥�
  鈥�. OK not terribly enticing but this was a provincial amphitheatre after all.
  
  I presume it was also the sponsors who were responsible for providing any ushers and marshals for managing the crowds at the event. When in AD 59 there was a riot in the Pompeii amphitheatre between the locals and a large contingent from the nearby town of Nuceria, it was the organisers and not the ringleaders of the fight who took the blame when the case came before the emperor. Livineius Regulus and his two fellow Pompeiians were stripped of their magistracies and sent into exile. But the city as a whole did lose too as it was given a ten-year ban on staging gladiatorial spectacles.
  
  As I understand it, 1st century Rome had no police force as such and armed troops (other than the emperor鈥檚 Praetorian guard) were forbidden to enter the city. Responsibility for maintaining law and order lay with the district magistrates. If necessary they could call on the Vigiles, a force comprising some 7,000 men in seven cohorts 鈥� each cohort being responsible for two of the city鈥檚 fourteen administrative districts. But the Vigiles鈥� primary purpose was preventing and fighting fire, rather than fighting crime. They did however act as a night watch, keeping an eye out for burglars and hunting down runaway slaves, and I believe they were on occasion used to maintain order in the streets.
  
  I think it is only at a much later date that the Urban Cohorts were created to actively police the increasingly violent streets of Rome and to counterbalance the enormous power of the Praetorian guard. But even so I don鈥檛 think they would have been interested in crowd control around the amphitheatre unless rich senators鈥� lives or property were directly at risk.
  
  By the way are you only interested in what went on in the Colosseum (the Flavian Amphitheatre) or in other venues as well? And over what time period? Bear in mind that inside the Colosseum things were quite strictly ordered with the different ranks and sexes all kept separate. In the Circus Maximus however, men and women could sit together and its close seating forced intimacy. Accordingly the Circus was well-known as a place for flirtatious encounters (Ovid, Ars Amatoria). Also I鈥檓 not sure there was much space for the booths of 鈥渃ooks, astrolgers and prositutes鈥� within the arcade around the Coloseum itself as many (most?) of the arches were actually entrances to the upper ties. Again I thought it was the Circus Maximus that was always more (im)famous for all the booths and cabins that were built around and under the stands, and for the nefarious underworld that existed therein.
  
  Meles
  
  PS. I clearly have had too much spare time today鈥� actually I was supposed to be mowing the lawn and doing loads of other jobs鈥� but your question rather piqued my own curiosity. However sadly I still can鈥檛 actually find a contemporary reference to food being sold actually inside the Colosseum.
  

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  Posted by Nik (U1777139) on Tuesday, 26th June 2007

  Thanks to Meles we have a really comprehensive picture of the prices, while the joke with the client and his donkey was excellent!
  
  I wished only to note that similarly to today, food prices could have considerable fluctuations over time and lets not forget that the old Empire lasted say around 500 years (while its offspring another 1000 years) so one cannot expect prices to have remained the same.
  
  I know in general that commencing from the 3rd A.C. century and in front of the events of those times (raids, civil wars, political unrest) plus the contemporary climatic change that affected agriculture, the prices were really increased to levels not easily sustained by the lower classes - culmination reached in late 4th century, but then I am not so certain if that fashion continued well into the 6th century (talking now about the Eastern Empire).
  
  It would be also interesting to note whether cheaper food prices coincided with the best financial point of the older Empire. For example for the Eastern Empire, things are quite complex: against common belief, the time of Justinian and the expansion to the west weakened considerably the Empire, again surprisingly the best financial point was not the times of Basil (who re-affirmed the power of the Empire over the lands) but... only after Seljuks had enterred Minor Asia, i.e. in the 12th century!!! But then that was also a time of augmenting prices, ones that the average citizen could not follow easily. If I am not wrong the best food prices were enjoyed by citizens in the late 8th, early 9th A.D. century. I suspect something like that happened in the Roman Empire: its best financial point being the early 2nd A.D. times while the cheapest food prices being the late 1st B.C, early 1st A.D. times.

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  Posted by Backtothedarkplace (U2955180) on Tuesday, 26th June 2007

  Hi S-tephen
  
  Try this book
  
  Pompeii. the Living City.
  Alex Butterworth & Ray Laurence
  Phoenix books
  isbn 13 978-0-7538-2076-6
  10 0-7538-2076-5
  
  As the title suggests its biased towards Pompeii rather than rome. but to me, and I'm not an expert on this, its well written and covers this area quite well.
  
  It should provide enough information for you to be able to extrapolate what you want.
  
  The main thing to remember is that in capital cities the prices are likley to be a little bit higher. Doesnt matter if its bread, beer or sex you pay that little bit more and round the collosseum on a games day the prices are likley to rise a bit because its a sellers market.

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  Posted by s_tephen (U7458872) on Tuesday, 26th June 2007

  Thanks to all who chipped in with some really interesting stuff. The reason for my original question concerning things 'colosseum' was to gather some data for a up and coming OU course I'm starting in October (A103). Although OU text books are really good I like to 'read around' a topic if I can to get a feel and taste for the subject. Your input has been terrific and has pointed me in the right direction.
  Cheers s_tephen

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  Posted by Backtothedarkplace (U2955180) on Wednesday, 27th June 2007

  You can do a University course on the costs of Roman matteress backs! Sign me up for that one.

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  Posted by pumbar (U1339624) on Wednesday, 27th June 2007

  The Romans minted coins, engraved with a range of sexual positions, which are thought to have been used as currency for prostitutes: the coin you give indicates how you want to be serviced. That way a prostitute who could not speak the language could ensure she wasn't getting fleeced.
  
  

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