I have always wondered what ancient Rome was like when the Apostle Paul was there.
When hubby and I visited Rome recently it was impossible to even try to imagine what ancient Rome might have been like. Our tour guide, Franco, repeatedly reminded us that Rome is like a “lasagna” (so to speak) with multiple layers of history on top of each other. The remains of the ancient Rome in which the Apostle Paul (and the first-century Christians) lived are for the most part buried deep down amongst the layers of the “historical lasagna.”
To the south of Rome, about 241 kilometers, is the ancient Roman city of Pompeii. While ancient Rome itself has been buried deep down amongst layers of subsequent history, the ancient Roman city of Pompeii (from the exact same time period) was buried deep in layers of ash from the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.
The Apostle Paul arrived in Rome in the year AD 60.
The city of Pompeii, a couple hours to the south, was destroyed in AD 79, just a few years later.
By looking at the ruins and remains of the ancient city of Pompeii we can actually get a pretty good idea of what ancient Rome might have been like during the time the Apostle Paul lived there. Over the next few blog posts I would like to share photos from the ruins of Pompeii, as together we imagine what ancient Rome was like when the Apostle Paul was there.
Here you can see an illustration from the guide map I picked up when hubby and I were at Pompeii. This shows you what the bakeries of ancient Rome were probably like.
According to the guide brochure: “The mill and the bakery were connected, since the places for producing flour and making bread were part of the same process. The grain was ground using large millstones made of lava stone. The grindstones consisted of two elements: a lower cone-shaped element (meta) and an upper one in the form of an hourglass (catillus). The grain was poured into the catillus which rotated, pulled by slaves or animals, grinding the grain and letting the flour fall below.
“The bread was baked in a large oven situated in the center of the building. It was made into loaves of different shapes that were usually sold at the bakery in a small room with a counter. The bread was made to order or sold wholesale or by street vendors known as libani. In Pompeii there are about 36 bakeries.”
Here you can see the actual remains of an ancient bakery. Can you see the arched brick oven?
If you look closely at the walls in the background you can see a row of holes high up on the wall which once held the support beams for probably the third story of the building. You have to use your imagination to visualize what the building might have looked like with walls, and a second & third story.
Considering that ancient Rome and Pompeii were the same time period, ancient Rome probably had many bakeries just such as this, with big brick ovens just like this. The Apostle Paul, and the early Christians of the first century probably had bread purchased from bakeries just like this.
Picture in your mind a bakery of today and the delicious smells of the bread being baked. Imagine the loaves of fresh hot bread on the counter available for purchase, or for sale by street vendors.
This was what ancient Rome was like.
