One aspect of the Roman Baths was the array of vendors found at the entrance. These vendors sold some small tokens as well as their primary purpose, to offer light meals to the bathers. The meals were generally light as the bathers usually arrived in the afternoon, before the main meal of the day in the Roman culture, dinner. Some examples of foods that could be purchased were found written on a tablet near the Suburban Baths in Herculaneum. The tablet read:

• Nuts-drinks—14
• Hog's Fat—2
• Bread—3
• Cutlets for 3—12
• Sausage for 4—8
• 51

This would be an itemized bill, with '51' being the total price. To me, this idea of vendors offering light snacks in the middle of the day is much like the food vendors on the streets of New York City. Most of these vendors offer hot dogs, sodas, pretzels, and ice cream. Some of these vendors offer various ethnic foods, though. Often I have seen vendors selling funnel cakes, gyros, or kabobs. While studying in Cambridge, I saw that there were similar vendors in the market square that sold Thai noodles, chicken satay, and curry. Given the reputation of the baths as a public meeting space for all types of people in the Roman Empire, I find it fitting that the modern transformation of the street vendor would in part serve the role of bringing the world and its many clashing cultures together. Also, I often see these vendors outside of the Equinox fitness club near my home in New York. It seems that the same tactic is being used today as in Roman times. Although patrons of the health club are probably very health conscious, it seems they wouldn't mind grabbing a bottle of water or a quick bite to eat from one of these vendors. The vendors are also very time efficient. A lot of people who are members of Equinox work long days and go there to exercise at night. The light fare probably saves them time in their busy schedules. I'd imagine that the vendors in Rome worked the same way, as even senators and government officials, who were known to be busy people, were still able to frequent the baths.

Photo courtesy of: http://legeros.com/photos/ny05/images/times-square4-vendors.jpg

Back To: Roman Baths