Pompeii and Herculaneum Food Question (1 Viewer)

[lowek]

well. I think so because it was with reference to source whatever talk about etcece. so if you didn't know what it was you were screwed from the start!

 

[Nick_R]

OMFG! I loved this question! mainly coz I developed a facination for thermapolia after seeing them lol! Pretty straightforward anyways as u just had to mention that few houses had kitchens that would have been suitable for frequent use and that the number of thermapolium found in Pompeii and Herc (130+) are evidence that they were people who ate outside the home -> then linked that to social aspects of eating!
my fav question of the exam!!

i didn't like the last one tho, but it was OK... we'd prepared HEAPS on preservation and ethics on the sites, which didn't show up anywhere

 

[philthy]

My answer went something along the lines of-

"Information on Roman food comes from the cook book, "On Cooking" by *Apicus? did i just make that name up?* Romans enjoyed sweet and salty foods.
Due to the busy lifestyle of the people of Pompeii and the limited space, people often ate outside the home, at hot food bars or thermopoliums, as can be seen in source bla. Food was cooked in kitchens, or culina and then stored and kept hot in the large pots that can be seen in the counter. Thermopoliums were often located at busy street junctions, and food was served over the counter."
i think i also added something about the monetary system?
but yeah i focused on the thermopolium pretty much, didnt mention bakeries or anything...

 

[becsim08]

omfg, re post 15;
I was completely fine with my answer until I read this post. now I'm stressing out. I thought the four markers were only in relation to the source given, particularly considering the limited space given and also because that's how it was in the specimin paper and the catholic trials (look at the marking rubrics). I drew conclusion from the actual source concerning the social nature of eating and eating outdoors etc. Hopefully I get marked in a centre where practically everyone has done the same thing and they don't say "hmmm, that seems like how it was meant to be answered" to extra sources.

 

[LynH1326]

Didn't even know the name of it..... Some of the people from my school actually when there and saw it with their Italy excursion in April this year (not bad considering we're a public school).

Kinda a lame question, my teacher said it was horrible too. Rest of it was ok.

 

[nallask8r]

yeh the only credible thing i wrote from that source was that such food bars had ovens and stoves beneath them. Is that right??? i also crapped on about "no real attempt at commericial segregation or concenration" ridiculous question though

 

[ScottyGEE]

The question said "Using source x", so I interpreted that I was only meant to talk about what was represented within the source. So I didn't talk about anything else (like bakeries etc.). We didn't really study this in class either and so I just simply described features within the source, which suggested how food was prepared and sold i.e. food kept warm over the counter in pots for ready access by consumers. I couldn't remember any specific names, but I'm not sure whether this was strictly necessary as the question did not not imply that one ought to bring in one's own knowledge. I could be really wrong however.

Exactly right...
You'll notice that in all other pompeii and other ancient history questions that they will specify whether or not they want other source or information with the lines "Using your own knowledge" and "Using other sources", so you were only supposed to talk about the food preparation in the source...
Talking about Garum and bakeries whilst valid you could not just go off and waffle about it...It was how that store did things with a small amount of relation methinks...

BTW I had not seen that source before...ever...and only touched food

 

[Declaration]

The little holes are called Doliums (may want to check spelling?) they are just big ceramic pots and are good insulators they store mainly grapes and stuff. our teacher gave us this question before in one of our exams.

 

[becsim08]

Exactly right...
You'll notice that in all other pompeii and other ancient history questions that they will specify whether or not they want other source or information with the lines "Using your own knowledge" and "Using other sources", so you were only supposed to talk about the food preparation in the source...

Thankyou Scotty Gee, you have made a sickly obsessive girl very happy and I do so enjoy validation. Fortunately I did know about the themopolium (I almost called it a thermae though) and I wrote somthing to the effect of; it shows a bench with encased dolia which store and keep the prepared food warm blah blah...

 

[jackkelly]

lol this was easy, all u had to do was identify it was a thermapolium and go into how it was stored in terracotta pots etc.. u could also say that food was prepared in the pistrina by donkeys etc griding the grain to form bread (staple diet).. also food was distributed throughout household shops or tabernae etc... may also go into garum production etc.

pretty simple question, prob the easiest in the whole paper - unlike romes' wars of expansions , wtf were they thinking personalities and 3rd pw? seriously!

 

[undotwa]

lol this was easy, all u had to do was identify it was a thermapolium and go into how it was stored in terracotta pots etc.. u could also say that food was prepared in the pistrina by donkeys etc griding the grain to form bread (staple diet).. also food was distributed throughout household shops or tabernae etc... may also go into garum production etc.

pretty simple question, prob the easiest in the whole paper - unlike romes' wars of expansions , wtf were they thinking personalities and 3rd pw? seriously!

I agree about Rome's Wars of Expansion. Usually, they have a punic question and a general question. This year, both the questions were punic questions - something that really threw me, as I mainly had studied the non-Punic stuff.

The questions were so much more specific than what they had been in the past.

 

[kimsquared]

I distinctly remember a girl in my class doing a speech on food and these so called food bars. Too bad I didn't listen.

I'm pretty sure I just made up some stuff, and then at the end realise I had like one line to fill and said somthing to the effect of "it is amusing that parrallels can be drawn to contemporary methods of serving food in such places as food courts." the minute I wrote it I realised how gay it sounded...

But I was actually quite annoyed they didn't ask on conservation, I went to the Syd Uni AND Maq Uni lectures and ALL they talked about was conservation, I even remember Zarmarti saying that conservation would be a good "candidate" for a question

Damn you Zarmarti!!!

 

[karoooh]

I forgot the word, 'thermopolium' (?) and just went on about how they made food, chucked it in those terracotta tub things, heated with fire for the entire day and customers would see the menu on the wall and pick what to eat. And I talked about the bakery and the donkey thing.

Stupid me. I was all, 'there's not gonna be a question on food! That's just stupid.'

 

[Paige Dog]

Although this isnt really important since the exams are over....in the "new technologies' section of the syllabus there is research to show that the bars found in pompeii and herculaneum were not actually thermopolia or other versions of that word. They were apparently wrongly assumed to be but more research recently proved they didnt fit the guidelines of a thermopolia.I only remembered reading this when i saw the picture, and cheched my notes after the exam. And also...i only wrote about the source, not anything about other sources...i think i stuffed that up,i thought it was only that source...ahh.

 

[lonely_devil]

i had no idea what it was called... but the idea about only few houses had kitchens just popped into my mind and i went on about how the lower classes would have often eat outside due to the lack of kitchens in homes. =P

i just never expected a question on food... >.< i've only learnt so little about them...

 

[gracerawl88]

Didn't even know the name of it..... Some of the people from my school actually when there and saw it with their Italy excursion in April this year (not bad considering we're a public school).

Kinda a lame question, my teacher said it was horrible too. Rest of it was ok.

what school are you from? did you also go with one girl and teacher from an inland school?

 

[HilaryLush]

The question said "Using source x", so I interpreted that I was only meant to talk about what was represented within the source. So I didn't talk about anything else (like bakeries etc.). We didn't really study this in class either and so I just simply described features within the source, which suggested how food was prepared and sold i.e. food kept warm over the counter in pots for ready access by consumers. I couldn't remember any specific names, but I'm not sure whether this was strictly necessary as the question did not not imply that one ought to bring in one's own knowledge. I could be really wrong however.

I think you're right, my teacher said you should pretty much describe the source and interpret it in that particular question

 

[s-p-a-c-e-d]

I swear I read my study guide and there wasn't a single thing mentioned about food. Either that or it was so insignificant I skipped over it :mad1:

EDIT: Well, there was stuff about food, but nowhere did they use the word 'thermopolium'

 

[timedmundricebb]

Firstly i talked about where food came from in the area, then i talked about food preperation backed up by evidence e.g Olive press, mills etc. Mentioned the number of foodbars in Pompeii in relation to it being an important part of the economy and finally used the terracotta pots in reference to the storage part of the question.

Subjects: English Advanced, Ancient History, Extension History, Chemistry, Mathamatics, IPT, Studies of Religion.

 

[goti]

The question said "Using source x", so I interpreted that I was only meant to talk about what was represented within the source. So I didn't talk about anything else (like bakeries etc.). We didn't really study this in class either and so I just simply described features within the source, which suggested how food was prepared and sold i.e. food kept warm over the counter in pots for ready access by consumers. I couldn't remember any specific names, but I'm not sure whether this was strictly necessary as the question did not not imply that one ought to bring in one's own knowledge. I could be really wrong however.

Thankyou undotwa!
I thought I was the only one who adopted the approach of just referring to the source. I had other knowledge of food preperation and serving, however since this section was a source based section I figured that they required an analysis of the source. So I mentioned that by itself this source was limitting etc etc...

I hope it all goes well.