The Romans would have had a word for it: Fortuna. It was surely thanks to the intervention of the goddess Fortuna that the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum ever again were to be seen in the light of day. For archaeologists, it is certainly heaven-sent fortune that these two holiday resort cities were discovered; their ruins revealing much of the daily lives of the towns' citizens.
"Hail Profit!" This piece of graffito at the House of Vedius Siricus (Pompeii) captures the essence of daily life in Pompeii (and to lesser extant Herculaneum). While findings of fishnets, sinkers, and bronze fish hooks imply a quiet fishing life for Herculaneans, Pompeian life was highly commercial. The day began with the Patricians greeting their clients in their forum, then immersing their day at the Basilica for business or attending to their land lording. Proletarian merchants going to their shops in the forum to ruthlessly promote their wares (evidence of their commercial ruthlessness comes from an ad at a Herculaneum winery which used religion to promote their wares: the god Bacchus appears on the wineshop's wall). …
