Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Taberna

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rich, Anthony (1849). The illustrated companion to the Latin dictionary, and Greek lexicon. p. vi. OCLC 894670115. https://archive.org/details/illustratedcompa00rich. 

TABER'NA. Literally, a hut formed with planks (tabulae), the earliest style of building amongst the Romans (Hor. Od. i. 4. 13. Ulp. Dig. 50. 10. 183. Festus, s. Adtubernalis); thence —

2. A shop for the sale of retail commodities (Cic. Varro, Suet. Juv.); so named, because in old Rome, the shops consisted for the most part of boarded stalls projecting from the houses, or raised under the colonnades which surrounded the market-places. Subsequently, however, as wealth and commerce increased, the ground-story of the rows of houses, and even palaces, in a street, were appropriated for shops, and let out to separate tradesmen, like those round our Royal Exchange, and many of the great mansions in continental towns. In the majority of cases, the shop had no communication with the rest of the house, the tenant merely occupying it for the purposes of his trade, and dwelling himself elsewhere; but some few houses, of a respectable class, have been discovered at Pompeii, in which the shop has an entrance from its back, into the habitable parts of the mansion, and these are reasonably belived to have been in the occupancy of the persons who dwelt on the premises, and who are, in consequence, supposed to have been wealthy tradesmen. The general appearance of a Roman shop, as uniformly exhibited by the numerous examples remaining at Pompeii, resembled those of our butchers and fishmongers, being entirely open in front, with the exception of a low wall, forming the counter, and were closed by wooden shutters at night. They are mostly comprised in a single room, without any other convenience; though in some instances a small back parlour and other appurtenances are added. The annexed illustration (Taberna/2.1) represents an elevation restored of six shop fronts at Pompeii; and the ground-plan of the house of Pansa, at p. 248, which also contains the plan of several shops, number 1 — 7, will afford a distinct idea of the usual manner in which they were laid out, both when connected with and separated from the dwelling-house.

3. Taberna deversoria and meritoria, or simply taberna. A wine-shop by the road-side, for the convenience of travellers. (Vitruv. vi. 5. 2. Varro, R. R. i. 2. 23. Plaut. Men. ii. 3. 86. Val. Max. i. 7. ext. 10.) The Roman landlords whose estates abutted on any of the public roads, were in the habit of erecting buildings of this kind, in which they retailed the produce of their estates; and a very similar practice obtains at the present day amongst the Tuscan nobility of Florence, where a small window is frequently seen by the side of the principal entrance to many of the great palaces, from which the steward retails to the townspeople the produce of his master's vintage.

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  Taberna/2.1