The Macellum of Pompeii was located on the Forum and as the provision market (or macellum) of Pompeii was one of the focal points of the ancient city. The building was constructed in several phases. When the earthquake of 62 AD destroyed large parts of Pompeii, the Macellum was also damaged. Archeological excavations in the modern era have revealed a building that had still not been fully repaired by the time of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.
Of particular interest to researchers is the section of the Macellum located on the east side that is thought to have been dedicated to the imperial cult. It makes manifest how central a role the emperors played in the lives of Romans as early as the 1st century. The other rooms on the west side are also interesting as examples of the link between economic and public life. Additionally, the market is an eloquent testimony to the everyday culture of the Romans, which is illustrated by archeological finds such as food remains, items of daily use and necessity, up to examples of Roman wall paintings.
Location
The Macellum of Pompeii is located outside the northeast corner of the forum. As the city continued to grow, it was necessary to relieve pressure on the forum. When the Macellum was first discovered, because of the twelve column bases in the centre, the excavators at first believed it was a kind of pantheon, a temple dedicated to many gods. However, when subsequent excavation turned up the remains of cereals and fruits in the north side of the building and fish scales and bones in the middle of the courtyard, the archaeologists realized that this was a market.
The Macellum had three entrances: two main entrances, one in the middle of the west side to the forum and one in the middle of the north side to Via degli Augustali (a local road), plus a side entrance on the southeast that could only be reached using a small stairway.
The shape of the Macellum is slightly misaligned with the forum because it had to fit between the two roads that flanked it to the north and south, the Via degli Augustali and the Vico del Balcone Pensile. To compensate, the shops that abut the forum on the west side increase in size from south to north.
Construction features
Entrance and the West Side
Three much restored marble columns from the portico of the forum, with Corinthian capitals, remain standing in front of the facade. The lower third of two of the columns is decorated with piped fluting, while the upper portion lacks fluting. Part of the entablature remains on top of the capitals. The lobby of the Macellum was particularly closely connected to the portico of the forum. Two rows of columns rose one above the other with no intermediary level. Hence, the portico appeared more like a facade.
The bases for honorific statues, which stood behind each column, are also still in place, but they lack their original marble cladding. Further bases for honorific statues were located in front of the corner columns of the tabernae (shops) at the front of the building. These spaces constructed in opus incertum (rubble stonework) were probably currency exchanges. A further portico must have been located inside the Macellum itself, but none of its columns remain. The only recognizable traces are a water gully and signs of where columns stood in it.
The main entrance was divided into two by an aedicula for a statue with two elegant Corinthian columns. The statue was probably that of an emperor, in which case, the imperial cult is to be presumed to have begun at the entrance to the Macellum. Both columns are decorated with chimerae, which were not originally part of the Macellum, but belonged to one of the major tombs: the Tomba delle Ghirlande (Garland grave) on Via del Sepolchri (Street of Sepulchres) before the Herculaneum gate. The chimerae were presumably not produced in Pompeii, but probably originate in a workshop in Greece. However, it is also possible that they were manufactured in a neo-Attic workshop in Naples or Puteoli.
In addition, on the west side an example of the fourth style of Roman (so-called Pompeiian) decorative mural painting has been preserved. It apparently dates to the period after the great earthquake of 62 CE. Above the plinth are painted fields of black bordered in red. In the center of each, a mythological scene is depicted. In these Penelope recognizing the returned Odysseus, Io watched over by Argus, and Medea ruminating on the deaths of her children are recognizable. Between the individual panels are architectural vistas on a white background, with green and pale red buildings depicted in perspective.