Garum Workshop of Umbricius Scaurus

About

Aulus Umbricius Scaurus built Pompeii's biggest fish-sauce fortune here, and made sure everyone knew it: his atrium floor bears four amphora mosaics, three naming him personally as the source of the city's finest garum and liquamen. His townhouse near the Porta Marina held a fishpond, private baths, and the workshop where slaves fermented anchovy and mackerel guts in brine for months. Vesuvius buried the operation whole in August 79 CE, so by Trajan's reign it survived only as ash and memory, not a working business. Excavated jars still carry his titulus pictus labels today.

What happened here

Rows of stone vats sunk into the ground beside the sea, and the smell reaches a long way inland. Small fish and the guts of larger ones are layered with salt and left in the sun for weeks; the liquid that separates off is drawn away as fish sauce and the residue is sold cheaply as paste. Grades run from a luxury sauce that costs more than good wine down to the version bought by everyone else. Tunny is netted in season from lookout towers on the headland, and the fishing, salting, potting and shipping all happen within a few hundred metres. Amphorae are stamped with the maker's name. Towns built on this are rich, and they are built downwind of themselves.

Sources

• Wikipedia, 'Aulus Umbricius Scaurus'
• pompeiiinpictures.com, VII.16.15 Casa di Umbricius Scaurus

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