Both Greeks and Romans originally ground their flour and baked their bread at home, and mills and bakeries have been found in several private houses in Pompeii. One of these bakeries was attached to the house of Sallust, on the south side, being divided from it only by a narrow street. Its front is the main street, or Via Consularis, leading from the gate of Herculaneum to the Forum. Entering by a small vestibule, the visitor finds himself in a portico of ample dimensions, considering the character of the house, being about 36 feet by 30 feet. At the end of the portico is an opening through which the bake-house is entered, which is at the back of the house, and opens into a smaller street, which, diverging from the main street at the fountain by Pansa’s house, runs straight up to the city walls. The work room of the mill and bakery is about 33 feet long by 26 feet. The centre is occupied by four stone mills, and when it was uncovered, the ironwork, though entirely rust eaten, was yet perfect enough to explain satisfactorily the method of construction. Not only were the flour mills, kneading troughs and other utensils for baking found in Pompeii, but there were also loaves of bread, of round form, and sub-divided, some of which were stamped with the baker’s name. That this was the usual form of loaf is also shown by a painting on the walls of the Temple of Augustus, where we see the bread partially broken, and by the representation of a baker’s shop, where all the loaves are similarly shaped. [Illustration: ROMAN METHODS OF BREAD-MAKING.] [Illustration: A BAKER’S SHOP AT POMPEII.] This, at all events, seems to have been the shape in vogue about the time of the Christian era; but in the _bas reliefs_ on the tomb of Eurysaces, who was a baker in a large way of business at Rome, they seem to be globular. These _bas reliefs_ are most interesting, as they show the whole history of baking. First there is the purchase of the corn, and payment being made for it; then we see it ground, and sifted to separate the bran. Next a man is buying some flour. Then we see the dough being kneaded by horse-power, the bakers making it into loaves, the baker with his peel baking the loaves, which are afterwards carried in paniers to be weighed. Then there are the customers, and the bread being sent out for delivery. Pliny tells us that there were no bakers at Rome until the war with King Perseus of Macedon, more than 580 years after the building of the city. The ancient Romans used to make their own bread, it being an occupation which belonged to the women, as we see is the case in many nations even at the present day. In those times they had no cooks in the number of their slaves, but used to hire them for the occasion from the market. The Gauls were the first to employ the bolter that is made of horse-hair; while the people of Spain made their sieves and meal dressers of flax, and the Egyptians of papyrus and rushes.