LAST SUPPER IN POMPEII

Sheffield We are pleased to announce the following talk presented by the Sheffield branch of the Classical Association, in conjunction with the Medieval and Ancient Research Centre:
Wednesday 8 March, 4:15pm
Dr Paul Roberts (Sackler Keeper of Antiquities, Ashmolean Museum)
'Last Supper in Pompeii: The Roman Love Affair with Food and Wine'
Regent Court, John Pemberton LT A
This talk will be an in-person event but we will also be live-streaming it. If you would like to attend online, sign up by completing this form. (You will be sent a link to join the talk closer to the time.)


We look forward to seeing you there
ill be sent a link to join the talk closer to the time.)Paul Roberts (s

Mosaic of a skeleton with wine jugs. Pompeii, AD 30-79. Naples Museum inv. 9978 .                    
For the Romans, life meant getting together to eat and drink, in a pub, in a simple flat or at a banquet in a triclinium or grand dining room. Last supper in Pompeii celebrates the Roman love affair with food and wine, in a journey from fields and vineyards to markets and shops, from tables to toilets and the tomb. 
We visit the fertile vine-filled slopes of Vesuvius, then going into the bustling city, past shops and bars, we enter the home, with its grand reception rooms, and lovely garden filled with flowers and fountains. We recline in the dining room, with exotic food and fine wine, surrounded by Greek-style luxury; beautiful silver, mosaics and frescoes. But don’t go in the kitchen! No fridge, no running water, no hygiene (and an open cess pit next to the cooker!).
Lastly we look at how Roman ideas and customs on food caught on in Roman Britain. Along with Roman gods of fertility and wine come exotic imports like pepper, figs and finest fish sauce. We witness the birth of the British beer industry and even see the British dead, feasting into the afterlife, like all good Romans. Seize the day - Carpe diem!

Fresco showing guests at a Roman banquet convivium, drinking and talking 
Pompeii, House of the Triclinium.  Naples Archaeological Museum  MANN 120031 

Mosaic showing sea -creatures 
Pompeii Naples Archaeological Museum  MANN 120177