Who Were the Tinkers?

The term “tinkers” is an archaic term for those who mended pots and pans or sharpened household utensils. They could be found in Upstate New York as late as the 1950s. While modern-day tinkers (often associated with Irish Travelers) are a distinct cultural group, those who performed the same function also existed in ancient Rome.

In The Deadliest Lie, Miriam refers to the tinkers as one of the many tradesmen in the agora, the central market, a place that always energized her:

Its vigor filtered into my lifeless arteries as haranguing hawkers and hucksters, orators and priests, soothsayers and astrologers, tricksters and swindlers, magicians and conjurers, snake charmers and peddlers, wizards and sorcerers all promised me a miracle for a price. Men and women of every class, many in the stunning colors of their native garb, bustled about the stalls, tents, and awning-sheltered barrows. Among them were hordes of slaves, pickpockets, cutthroats, musicians, Oriental dancers, prostitutes, loiterers, and speculators, all accompanied by the din of carts, the haggling of buyers, the calls of tinkers, the blandishments of vendors, the pleas of beggars, the quarrels of men, the gossip of women, and the buzz of flies.

The thrill of going downtown to escape everyday life has not changed. Two thousand years later, Petula Clark’s singing “Downtown” would become an international hit. So, you too can escape from everyday life by going downtown or by reading a Miriam bat Isaac mystery. To pick a story, click here.