What was a thermopolium?

A street counter selling hot food and drink

What kinds of messages cover Pompeii's walls?

Election notices, jokes and ads

Why were there stepping stones across streets?

To cross without stepping in water and waste

What is notable about Pompeii's amphitheater?

It is the oldest surviving stone amphitheater

What was revealed at a snack bar excavated in 2020?

Bright frescoes and food remains

Pompeii Daily Life Quiz: Bakeries, Graffiti and Street Food

Walls covered in election slogans, jokes and ads show how ordinary Romans lived, and this Pompeii daily life quiz walks through the town before 79 CE. Play an interactive set of 10 questions on thermopolia, carbonized bread, garum, stepping stones, public baths, the amphitheater, fullers' workshops, the Cave Canem mosaic and the decorated snack bar uncovered in 2020.

Start Pompeii Daily Life Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Counters
What was a thermopolium?
Bread
What was found in the Bakery of Modestus?
Sauce
What was garum?
Graffiti
What kinds of messages cover Pompeii's walls?
Stones
Why were there stepping stones across streets?
Baths
Which baths are among Pompeii's oldest?
Arena
What is notable about Pompeii's amphitheater?
Fullers
What did fullers do in Pompeii?
Dog
What does the Cave Canem mosaic warn?
2020
What was revealed at a snack bar excavated in 2020?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: What was a thermopolium?
Answer: A street counter selling hot food and drink
Many lined Pompeii's streets.
Q2: What was found in the Bakery of Modestus?
Answer: Carbonized loaves of bread
81 loaves survived the eruption.
Q3: What was garum?
Answer: A fermented fish sauce
Pompeii produced and traded it.
Q4: What kinds of messages cover Pompeii's walls?
Answer: Election notices, jokes and ads
Thousands of inscriptions survive.
Q5: Why were there stepping stones across streets?
Answer: To cross without stepping in water and waste
Carts passed between them.
Q6: Which baths are among Pompeii's oldest?
Answer: The Stabian Baths
They had hot, warm and cold rooms.
Q7: What is notable about Pompeii's amphitheater?
Answer: It is the oldest surviving stone amphitheater
It was built around 70 BCE.
Q8: What did fullers do in Pompeii?
Answer: Cleaned and finished cloth
Urine was used in cleaning.
Q9: What does the Cave Canem mosaic warn?
Answer: Beware of the dog
It is in the House of the Tragic Poet.
Q10: What was revealed at a snack bar excavated in 2020?
Answer: Bright frescoes and food remains
Images include ducks and a rooster.

Pompeii Daily Life Quiz – Bakeries, Graffiti and Street Food

Pompeii was a busy Roman town of perhaps 10,000 to 20,000 people before Vesuvius buried it in 79 CE. Many residents ate at thermopolia, street counters selling hot food and wine, and a decorated example excavated in 2020 still held food remains.

Bakeries supplied daily bread, and 81 carbonized loaves survived at the Bakery of Modestus. Garum, a fermented fish sauce, was a local product. Walls carry thousands of inscriptions, from election notices to jokes and adverts.

Stepping stones let people cross streets above water and waste. Residents visited the Stabian Baths and the amphitheater, the oldest surviving stone example. Fullers cleaned cloth, and the Cave Canem mosaic warned visitors to beware of the dog.

What This Quiz Teaches

History fans will enjoy these questions.

How Pompeians ate
What they wrote on walls
How streets worked
Where they relaxed
Which homes are famous

Did You Know?

Water reached Pompeii through an aqueduct.
Wealthy homes had atriums and gardens.
Wine amphorae were traded across the Mediterranean.
Shops opened directly onto the streets.
Gladiator graffiti celebrated popular fighters.