The Macellum

A market for luxury products

A market for luxury food products (macellum) was built on this terrace south of the Upper Agora in the last decade of the 2nd century AD, most likely replacing an Augustan predecessor built on the same spot. Later, decorative and utilitarian luxury products were also sold here, including jewellery, music instruments, and objects of worked bone, antler, metal and glass. Servants of the wealthy came here to shop.

The market was arranged around a courtyard of about 21 by 21 meters, and surrounded on three sides with shops behind expensive marble columns. The south side of the courtyard was an open colonnade offering impressive views towards the lower city and the valleys beyond.

Publius Aelius Akulas, a benefactor of the city and priest of the Imperial cult, provided funds for the construction of the market. Akulas financed the porticos (colonnaded galleries), while the city paid for the pavement and the central round building (tholos). The tholos had a diameter of 6 meters and contained a water basin. Akulas dedicated this new market to Emperor Commodus on the occasion of his victory over the Parthians. Later, the name of Commodus was erased from all of the inscriptions.

The shops of the market were rebuilt between 450 and 520 AD, but the porticos, the courtyard and the tholos remained the same. Some rooms of the complex stayed in use until ca. 600 AD, and one of the storage spaces until as late as 620 AD.