Food: bread

Depictions from an Ostian bakery can be seen on a so-called ollarium in the Vatican Museums (it was found in Ostia, but the year and precise place of discovery are unknown). It is a marble block in which eight urns (ollae) could be inserted. According to the inscription on the front it was ordered by Publius Nonius Zethus, an Augustalis, so involved in the Imperial cult. He made it for himself, his fellow-freed slave Nonia Hilara and his wife Nonia Pelagia (perhaps his second wife, which he married after the death of Hilara). The name Publius Nonius Heraclio was added later.

The ollarium of Publius Nonius Zethus.
Vatican Museums, Museo Chiaramonti. Zimmer 1982, cat. nr. 25. Photo: Mary-Jane Cuyler.

P(ublius) NONIVS ZETHVS AVG(ustalis) FECIT SIBI ET NONIAE HILARAE CONLIBERTAE NONIAE P(ubli) L(ibertae) PELAGIAE CONIVGI P(ublius) NONIVS HERACLIO	Publius Nonius Zethus, Augustalis, made this for himself and for Nonia Hilara, fellow-freed slave, for Nonia, freedwoman of Publius, Pelagia, his wife. Publius Nonius Heraclio.
Vatican Museums, Museo Chiaramonti. EDR143568.

To the left of the inscription an ass or donkey is turning a millstone. Over the millstone is a wooden contraption to which the animal was attached. In the center is a hopper through which grain was led into the millstone. To the left side a hammer and a bell are attached. The bell started ringing when the hopper was empty. The flour fell in a wooden basket or masonry bowl around the lower part. In the upper right part is a whip.

Detail of the relief to the left of the inscription.
Photo: Mary-Jane Cuyler.

Millstones in Mill-bakery I,XIII,4.
Photo: Daniel González Acuña.

To the right are several objects that were used in a bakery: at the top perhaps a bread-mould, a grain measure, and a sieve, at the bottom two baskets, two grain measures, and perhaps two leveling sticks to be used with the grain measures.

Detail of the relief to the right of the inscription.
Photo: Mary-Jane Cuyler.

A terracotta relief of a millstone was found in the facade of tomb 78 of the Isola Sacra necropolis, where we already saw a relief of a tugboat. At the top the hopper, a bell and perhaps a sieve can be recognized. Next to the millstone stands a man holding a whip.

Relief of a millstone from the facade of tomb 78 of the Isola Sacra necropolis. Width 0.40, height 0.395.
Zimmer 1982, cat. nr. 24. Photo: Parco Archeologico di Ostia Antica.

A marble relief from Ostia (of which, again, the precise place of discovery is unknown) may have been a shop sign or rather a funerary relief in view of the elaborate right border. A man holding some sort of bowl or platter is standing next to two rows of round loaves of bread. Above him are a sieve and what might be a bread-mould. We are looking at the interior of a bakery or a shop.

Relief of a baker.
From the collection in the Episcopium in modern Ostia Antica.
Zimmer 1982, cat. nr. 28. Photo: American Academy Rome.