Archaeologists working in Regio V at Pompeii unveiled an Egyptian situla, or handled vase, newly described in the online journal Scavi di Pompei. The vessel, made in Alexandria from vitreous paste of crushed glass and decorated with hunting scenes set along the Nile, was judged by the excavation team to be “a rare example of the diffusion of Eastern cultural forms, including Egyptian cults, in popular contexts of the ancient Roman city.” The announcement followed two years of conservation that began in 2023, when workers set out to secure and restore the thermopolium where the object lay.
The vase had been luxury décor for villas and ceremonial gardens, yet it resurfaced in the back room of a modest street-food stall that served Pompeii’s middle and lower classes. Excavators located it during 2020 clearing work, and the find offered fresh clues about commercial and cultural exchanges between Rome and Egypt, reported Euronews Turkish.
Researchers concluded that the situla was reused as a food container behind a marble counter where fried birds, bread, and wine were sold. At least eighty fast-food spots operated across Pompeii, and this popina was still serving customers when Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE, preserving its inventory under volcanic debris.
“The creativity seen in the decoration of sacred and everyday spaces indicates the circulation of different tastes, styles, and religious ideas,” said Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park, according to Euronews Turkish. “Here, we see a certain creativity in the arrangement of sacred and profane spaces, between domestic altar and kitchen—objects that testify to the permeability of tastes, styles, and presumably religious ideas in the Roman Empire,” added Zuchtriegel in a separate press release.
The ground floor still held bronze vessels, liquor bottles, and ceramic jars. Behind the serving counter stood a compact service room with a bath, an amphora store, and a stairway leading to a small upstairs apartment likely occupied by the shop’s managers. Tools, mortars, intact pots, and amphorae from across the Mediterranean remained carefully arranged, while patched floors, wooden pillars, and a reused limestone column recorded earlier earthquake repairs.
Conservation staff placed removable protective covers over fourth-style frescoes and installed new lighting for future visitors. Laboratory tests on the situla aim to identify food residues, and combined botanical and faunal studies of surrounding soil are expected to clarify trade links, diet, and possible ritual practices among Pompeii’s working classes.
“In Pompeii, luxury and cultural exchange coexisted in a small back room,” observed site conservators, who noted that the vase’s journey from Alexandrian showpiece to kitchen container illustrates how prized goods could travel far before entering everyday use.
Written with the help of a news-analysis system.