The Caupona of Sotericus was an establishment serving food and drink, created by converting an earlier house that faced onto the Via dell'Abbondanza.
The conversion took place after the earthquake of AD 62, when several rooms in the house were adapted for their new commercial purpose. The entrance leads to an atrium without an impluvium, where there is a circular masonry table with a stone basin.
The floors preserve different types of cement-based decoration, including marble inserts and geometric motifs. One wall of the atrium also bore a painted chained dog, a motif used in other Pompeian houses and commercial premises.
The caupona provides important evidence for the changes made to buildings on the Via dell'Abbondanza during the city's final years, when spaces that had previously been residential could be converted to commercial use.
View this location on the Pompeii Buildings and Places map