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A Roman wall-painting depicting a harbour

Stage 3: negotium

It's time to leave the house, go into town and do business ("negotium") with some of the local merchants! In this Stage, we will encounter three very different traders, and three very different ways of making money in Pompeii.

Story explorers

men in togas in the forum in front of a temple with Vesuvius in the distance
Page 36

in forō

Caecilius is working in the forum, the central marketplace where everyone goes to meet, trade and gossip! Luckily, he catches sight of three merchants he wants to deal with...

Clara the artist paints a scene of Hercules fighting a lion
Page 37

artifex

Time to "brush-up" on mythology! Caecilius has commissioned a painter to decorate his dining-room with a famous Roman subject. There's a superhero, a lion and a wooden club; it can only be...

The barber shaves the old man with a razor
Page 39

tōnsor

Razors at the ready! A cheeky poem leads to a very close shave for Caecilius at the barber's.

Venalicius, the enslaver, sits by a table in front of enslaved people who are for sale. A ship is behind them.
Page 40

ōrnātrīx

Down by the harbour, a darker side of Roman life: the buying and selling of enslaved people. Melissa, an enslaved woman, waits anxiously as a rich stranger, looking to buy her, haggles to get a good deal.

Clara sits in the garden holding a scroll in front of her.
Page 42
Practising the Language

in hortō

Grumio interrupts a story about Hercules.

Language activities

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Sorting Words

Declensions

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Sorting Words

Meanings

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Word Endings

Nouns

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Vocabulary Tester

Stage 3: Vocabulary Tester