Mortaria: the Cuisinart of the Roman World

 

          Most people probably know what a mortar and pestle are. Although not as common in household kitchens as they once were, these cups and heavy, club-shaped rods were used for grinding, pounding, mixing, and blending ingredients for foods and medicines. These two tools are still common in the logos of pharmacies and drug companies.

What most people don’t know is that mortars and pestles are Roman inventions. The earliest examples of them come from the Italian Peninsula and date from the 3^rd century BC. Both Apicius, the man credited with writing the first cookbook, and Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella, who wrote about agriculture, both refer to a mortarium in the context of cooking.

Most Roman mortaria have similar design features. They all have a gritty interior made by either mixing coarse sand, flint, quartz, or tiny stone grit into the clay or embedding it into the wet clay interior before firing. Either method created a rough grinding surface. The shallow bowls had thick rims that were often flanged. These were designed to provide a firm grip during vigorous pounding. Most also had a built-in groove or spout to allow the user to pour out blended sauces, liquids, or ground pastes easily. Some of these spouts were decorated to look like the mouth of a human or beast.

The word pestle comes from the Middle English pestel. It entered English courtesy of the Norman Old French word pestel, which came from the Latin pistillum, meaning "pounder" or "pound-instrument". The Latin root traces back to pinsere, meaning "to pound or crush."

In the same way, the Latin word mortarium came to English through Old French and slowly morphed to the word mortar. Although both words originally meant a vessel for pounding, grinding, or mixing, the English word gradually expanded over time until it became used to describe the substance mixed inside it, including the mortar used to join brickwork, and the short, squat military cannon shaped like a grinding bowl. 

Romans loved their sauces, and developed mortaria (singlular: mortarium) to grind the  herbs, spices, cheeses, meat, oil, fish sauce, wine, and nuts that went into them.  We know what they were pounding because scientists have been able to analyze the organic residues on surviving vessels or fragments that seeped into the porous clay of the kiln-fired pottery vessels. We also know because of these studies that different regions within the Roman Empire kept some of their culinary traditions. A 2011 study has uncovered plant material such as vegetables, herbs, and spices as well as the residue of animal fats and dairy products, including butter, on British mortaria.  This shows that, while Britons did adapt the handy instrument, they did not totally give up their old ways. Romans did not use butter in their cooking, preferring olive oil.

 The earliest mortaria in Britain predate the Roman conquest. We do not know whether the people using these early examples were immigrants from elsewhere or native Britons who enjoyed the novelty of Roman-style cuisine. These early finds are located at sites in the south-east corner of the island, and were continental imports.

 After the Roman invasion of Britain in AD 43, mortaria became increasingly common in Britain. Initially, these bowls were also predominantly imported. They came from Gallia Belgica, an area we would think of as the area covered today by Belgium, Luxemburg and northern France, or from Lugdunum, which is now known as Lyon.

Makers often stamped their names or symbols directly onto the rim of their mortaria as a way of advertising their wares. This allows archaeologists to trace trade routes and workshop movements across the Roman Empire. One potter whose mortaria are found across Western Europe is Gaius Atisius Sabinus, who operated a famous workshop in modern-day Aoste, Italy between 50 and 85 CE. Ripanus Tiberinus, a mortaria producer in Lugdunum, or present-day Lyon, produced pots between AD 55 and 90. Fragments of these post have been found throughout Britain and up to the Scottish border. https://www.tastesofhistory.co.uk/post/kitchenalia-the-mortarium

But as Britain adopted Roman culture, its artisans began making the pieces locally. Verulamium, now known as St Albans, developed a thriving moratoria business.  As the Roman Army slowly but steadily spread north, so did the mortaria. From being found in urban and military settings, they gradually appeared in more rural settlements and in the north. And as use spread north, so did production, with many other potters in the Midlands and further north producing and distributing mortaria.

Enica, the main character in The Potter's Hand, the historical novel I am working on right now, is a potter who lives in Eboracum, the Roman town that is now known as York. She is less of a craftsman than an artist, who loves to make meticulously decorated bowls, urns and pots that sell for high prices. But she has two slave women who also make pots for her, and she's recently begun having them turn out mortaria. She wants her fame as a potter to spread throughout northern Britain until her reputation rivals that of Ripanus Tiberinus. She is convinced that fame as a potter will open doors for her into Roman society. But God has other plans for her.

Jennifer Bohnhoff writes contemporary and historical fiction for middle grade through adult readers. She loves to share the history and geography behind her stories in schools, libraries, and book clubs.

She is currently working on a novel set in Northern Britain during the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. Titled The Potter's Hand, she hopes to publish it during the fall of 2026. 

Go to Jennifer's Website for more information about her and her books.