The macellum (Market)
Located in front of the South entrance of the Forum, next to the decumanus maximus towards which two entrances open, the macellum or market of Torreparedones, dated to the 1st century AD, was discovered in the excavations in 2008 and is one of the buildings in which it most reflects the rise and decline of the city. In fact, there are two perfectly differentiated areas, one of them corresponding to a large space with a patio paved with large stone slabs and a portico on columns with Attic bases and Corinthian capitals. This area would later be abandoned in the late ancient period, coinciding, most likely, with a time of demographic recession that made the stores installed there selling different food products, including fish, unnecessary, as demonstrated by the presence of a oval-shaped cistern inside which small spines and scrapes have been collected that could be an indication of the sale of some type of live fish in that place.
In the other area of the building we find a series of shops (tabernae) around a central open-air patio paved with small bricks forming spikes (opus spicatum) and surrounded by a small perimeter canal for the evacuation of water to the sewer. which runs under the maximum decumanus. For its part, another larger room could have corresponded to the place where the public scales (staterae) and official weights were kept, as well as measurements of capacity and length. In this case it would be the room called the weight table.
The decline of the city led to the abandonment of the use of the macellum to the point that in late antiquity it was used as a cemetery.
Torreparedones macellum taverns
Porticoed gallery of the macellum
The macellum in Roman cities
As narrated in ancient texts, the macellum of Roman cities was a market specialized in the sale of food products exclusively, especially game meat, beef and poultry, fish and horticultural products (fruits, legumes), as well as bread, although the latter products would be a complement to the main ones, fish and meat, with grain sales also being scarce. Frequently only luxury products were sold, with high prices.
In order to supply the population with the greatest possible comfort, the macellum was generally located next to the forum or in its vicinity, although it was always ensured that its location was easily accessible to suppliers and at the same time did not hinder the common transit of citizenship. Thus, in Hispania almost all the markets are located next to the forum, with the exception of the macellum of Valentia (Valencia), which was close to the port. Their size was determined by the place where they were located since, as in Torreparedones, they had to adapt to the irregularities of an already existing urban planning.
The macellum of Torreparedones
Virtual recreation of the macellum or Torreparedones market. In it you can see the interior layout of the building with the taverns or small shops where you could purchase the different food products that were offered to the citizens.
