Food and dining in the Roman Empire and a pesto-like preparation, somewhat similar to pizza or focaccia. Maintaining a bread oven is labor-intensive and requires space, so apartment dwellers probably prepared their dough at home, then had it baked in a communal oven. Mills and commercial ovens, usually combined in a bakery complex, were considered so vital to the wellbeing of Rome that several religious festivals honored the deities who furthered these processes—and even the donkeys who toiled in the mills. Vesta, the goddess of the hearth, was seen as complementary to Ceres, the goddess of grain, and donkeys were garlanded and given a rest on the
The Writing on the Hearth The Writing on the Hearth The Writing on the Hearth is a children's historical novel by Cynthia Harnett and illustrated by Gareth Floyd. It was first published in 1971 and was reissued in a special edition by Ewelme School in 2002. The events of the novel take place in the 15th century and primarily in the village of Ewelme in Oxfordshire, England. It is part of a tetralogy, or a four-part story, each of which is self-contained. The story features the village school, built by Alice Chaucer, granddaughter of Geoffrey Chaucer, and the adjoining village church. At the time of