Shops, Streets, and Sales: Understanding Commerce in Pompeii

Pompeii as a Trade Hub

Pompeii’s location at the crossroads of trade routes linking the Bay of Naples with the interior made it ideal for commercial activity. Goods flowed in from across the empire: wine, olive oil, fish sauce (garum), textiles, and exotic items from as far away as Egypt or Gaul.

Its port connected the city to maritime commerce, while roads allowed the distribution of products inland. The commerce in Pompeii wasn’t just local—it was global in scale, and its streets bore the footprints of merchants, artisans, and clients from across the Mediterranean.

The Forum and Marketplaces

At the heart of Pompeii’s commercial life stood the forum, a large open square where politics and trade intersected. Here, buyers and sellers gathered in covered porticoes, discussing prices and striking deals.

A dedicated fish market catered to the city’s appetite for fresh produce, while nearby tabernae lined the arcades, offering everything from fruit to luxury goods.

The basilica, flanking the forum, acted as both a legal center and a place where financial transactions could occur. The commerce in Pompeii was institutional as well as informal, blending state oversight with vibrant street-level trade.

Shops, Bars, and Thermopolia

Commerce extended beyond the forum and into nearly every street. The facades of houses often included small shops (tabernae) facing the road, where craftsmen sold goods directly from their homes. The city was also filled with thermopolia—bars and taverns serving hot food and drinks. These were among the most frequented venues, catering to workers, travelers, and locals.

One famous example is the thermopolium of Asellina, still displaying painted advertisements and the masonry counter with inset jars (dolia) used for food storage. In Pompeii, the lines between domestic, commercial, and social spaces were blurred, and commerce in Pompeii was visible in the very architecture of its buildings.

Workshops and Production

Pompeii was also a center of manufacturing and skilled labor. Blacksmiths, bronze workers, dyers, bakers, and weavers operated out of workshops scattered across the city. Excavations have revealed ovens, looms, kilns, and forges—evidence of a thriving artisan class.

The shop of Verus the bronze-worker included tools, castings, and customer graffiti, offering insight into how craftspeople built reputations and client networks. Many of these workshops combined production, sales, and living quarters, creating a highly integrated economic environment. The commerce in Pompeii was not only about selling but about making.

Traders, Slaves, and Freedmen

Perhaps the most revealing aspect of Pompeii’s economy is who ran it. Many commercial establishments were operated by slaves and freedmen, demonstrating how trade offered a path to wealth—and sometimes to social mobility. Successful freedmen often became business owners, managing taverns, laundries, or full-scale production facilities.

Women, too, played an active role. Asellina, for instance, ran her own bar, with female staff whose names survive in graffiti. In commerce in Pompeii, gender and status lines were crossed in practical, profit-driven ways, reminding us that ancient Rome was more economically flexible than its legal codes suggest.

Conclusion

The commerce in Pompeii was a dynamic blend of local production, regional trade, and personal entrepreneurship. It unfolded in elegant basilicas and smoky back rooms, in bustling markets and narrow alleys. More than a backdrop to Roman life, commerce was its engine.

It provided food, employment, entertainment, and even opportunity for the underprivileged. The preserved streets of Pompeii remain a monument not just to Roman architecture—but to Roman ambition, ingenuity, and the daily grind of making a living.