At the north-eastern corner of the forum of Pompeii is the city's covered market: a rectangular courtyard surrounded by shops, with at its centre the remains of a twelve-sided structure. There stood the basins where fish were cleaned, and archaeologists established it in the simplest way possible: they emptied the drain and found scales and bones inside. The macellum was where the Pompeians did their daily shopping.
What to see
The courtyard is wide and the plan reads at once: the shops along the sides, the portico that sheltered them, the central base of the structure where the fish counter stood. At the far end, the raised room in the middle of the east side held statues of the imperial family: in Roman markets power showed itself where people had to pass, not in temples.
On the walls survive painted panels of the fourth style, with mythological scenes decorating a market as posters decorate a shopping centre today: some are still in place, others were cut away in the nineteenth century and taken to the Archaeological Museum in Naples. At the sides you can also make out the spaces of the money changers and the public scales.
Visiting
The macellum is in the forum, a few steps from the main entrances to the site, and the visit is covered by the ticket. A quarter of an hour. It is best included in the round of the forum, along with the temple of Jupiter, the basilica and the public buildings that all stand around the same square.
Our editors' tip
Stop at the centre, where the twelve-sided structure was, and look at the ground: you can still see the drainage channel and the point where the water was collected. It is not a minor detail, it is the reason we know fish was sold here. It is the clearest case in Pompeii of information got from rubbish rather than from an inscription.