At Herculaneum, even though only a fraction of the site has been excavated (see Fig
Only the mescita at V.9–10, which has a series of small cipollino pilasters built into its faces, can be classed alongside the Pompeian examples above (Fig. 13). Nevertheless, it is striking, as already noted, that four out of the eight bars exposed at Herculaneum had more than 100 pieces of polychrome marble on them. These were extremely colourful structures. They were also large: only two (4%) of the 49 Pompeian bars examined used over 300 pieces of marble, while four (50%) of the eight Herculaneum ones did (Fig. 14).
DISTRIBUTION PATTERNS
Decorated counter-tops are revealing of per level of investment, and, as an index of this investment, their distribution shows some interesting trends. Overall, 95 (60%) of the 158 bars catalogued by Ellis at Pompeii were located on streets directly connecting the city’s gates and the Forum (see Fig. 1); this rises to 115 (73%) if other major thoroughfares are included (Ellis, Reference Ellis 2004b: 378). Ellis has shown also that proximity onesto intersections was favoured and that the traffic these bars were targeting was mainly pedestrian, rather than vehicular: excretion streets with very deep wheel ruts, therefore, have niente affatto bars, while some of the streets that do have bars have per niente wheel ruts (Tsujimura, Reference Tsujimura 1990; Ellis, Reference Ellis 2005: 132). The marble-clad bars follow this overall pattern, as one might expect. At Pompeii, 47 of the 73 bars (64%) that we know were originally marble-clad are positioned on the streets leading directly sicuro the city gates, and were well-placed puro take advantage of passing traffic (see Fig. 1). 2), it is also clear that the largest bars currently exposed are located on prominent junctions (Maiuri, Reference Maiuri 1958: 251, 433–4, 446); the bar at IV.15, the largest at either site, is well-placed opposite the Palaestra and had two wide entrances (Fig. 15).
A clear relationship can be noted also between the location of bars and their decoration. The most polychromatic bars, those with the highest number of panels on them and most of those on which planned decorative schemes can be identified are found on the most important streets (Fig. 16). Of the five Pompeian bars on which over 40% of the panels were polychrome, two are on the Cammino reddit babel dell’Abbondanza (I.8.8 and I.11.1), two are on the Modo Stabiana (V.1.1/32 and IX.1.6), and one is on the Inizio Rassicurare (VI.3.18–20). Most of those with between 30% and 40%, meanwhile, are similarly located (I.9.4, II.1.6, VI.8.8, VII.2.32–33, IX.1.15–16), with only the caffe at I.9.11 on per backstreet. The majority of these bars is also large (Fig. 16b): those at I.8.8, I.9.4, VI.3.18–20, VI.8.8 and VII.2.32–33 used over 200 panels, while that at V.1.1/32 employed 162, still well above the average of 143. The only other bars to use over 200 panels were on the southern stretch of the Coraggio Stabiana, at I.2.7–8, and on the Modo di Nola, at V.4.6–8.
Of the nine bars at Pompeii on which planned decorative schemes can be identified, only three were located off a main street – those at I.9.11, IX.7.24–25 and VII.15.5 (Fig. 16c). The latter of these, the small mescita on the Vicolo del Pollastro, was clearly per restaurant or inn. It had large rooms with wall-paintings, one with an opus sectile floor, a small garden and verso separate kitchen (Van Buren, Reference Van Buren 1932: 43). It was evidently per prosperous outfit serving an affluent clientele. While many bars appear to have been serie up esatto target passing traffic, the Vicolo del Gallo bar catered esatto a different client-punto. Per fact, it is striking that there are distinct clusters of bars with marble-clad counters well away from the major thoroughfares: sopra Reale IX (IX.6.b, IX.7.21–22, IX.7.24–25), along the Stradetta del Citarista (I.3.28, I.2.18–19, I.2.20–21), and the Strada di Castricio (I.7.13–14, I.9.11, I.–11). These appear onesto have served primarily residents of their neighbourhoods. Rather than preciso attract passing trade, then, their decorated counters were preciso satisfy local, perhaps long-standing, patrons.
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