KITCHENS AND DINING ROOMS AT POMPEII ... - Get a Free Blog

(truae) at Pompeii were rarely routed through the latrine to 'flush' it out on the way to the
street. 89 Most Pompeian latrines consisted of cesspits dug into the tufa bedrock, and were not
connected to the house or municipal sewer systems. 90 A cesspit could serve as a kitchen drain
because the tufa was porous and allowed liquids to drain, leaving the solid waste to be cleaned
out periodically. Romans had a legal right to connect their private sewer system to the municipal
system, provided that they obtained proper permission and acted responsibly in keeping their
connection to the municipal system clean. 91 Few households, however, took advantage of this
right for a number of possible reasons. First, human waste was valuable as fertilizer (it was
collected by individuals called stercorarii), and urine was recycled for use in fulleries. Second,
without proper traps, dangerous gases could build up in the municipal system and be forced into
private homes. Finally, sewage and any vermin that lived therein could wash back up into a
house through its private line. 92 In small houses, apartments and (work)shops that had neither a
sewer connection nor a private cesspit/latrine, waste water was simply collected in basins or pots
and tossed into the street. 93
Householders took precautions to safely control their cooking fires. The tile covering of
stoves, hearths and ovens or the use of metal braziers served to contain heat and reduce the risk
of a dangerous blaze. Fire was an ever-present threat not just to single homes, but to the whole
urban area. 94 The early third century A.D. jurist Ulpian considers liability in such cases:
If you have an oven (furnus) against a party wall will you be liable for wrongful
damage? Proculus says there can be no action because there is no similar liability
on the part of a man who has a fireplace (focus), but I think it would be fairer for
an actio in factum to be given if perchance the wall were burned down. On the
other hand, if you have not yet done me any damage, but you have such a fire
89 Var. L. 5.118: "A gutter is that by which they pour the water from the kitchen into the privy." trua[e]
que culina in lavatrinam aquam fundunt (Loeb text and translation).
90 Scobie 1986, 407-412 and Jansen 1991 detail the problem of latrines in Roman houses.
91 Ulp. and Ven. dig. 43.23 (see Scobie 1986, 408-409). See Rodger 1972, 141-166 for a discussion of the
problems of one property's drainage damaging another property.
92 Scobie 1986, 411-414 discusses the hazards of drainage systems.
93 Juv. 3.276-277 complains of being drenched with waste water from upper-story apartments; various jurists
(dig. 9.3) address legal recourse for victims of such unfortunate circumstance.
94 Col. 1.6.3 instructs the reader to build a kitchen with high ceilings, in order to keep the rafters far from the
risk of fire; Hor. S. 1.5.71-76 humorously describes the panic that might ensue when a kitchen fire happens:
"Then we go straight to Beneventum, where a diligent host nearly burns his place down while cooking bony
thrushes. For through his old kitchen, a vagrant flame veered, from a fallen volcano of logs, mounting high
to lick the roof. Hungry guests, terrified slaves snatch the food to safety, everyone tries to put the fire out -
quite a scene."; Tendimus hinc recta Beneventum, ubi sedulus hospes paene macros arsit dum turdos versat in igni.
Nam vaga per veterem dilapso flamma culinam Vulcano summum properabat lambere tectum. Convivas avidos cenam
servosque timentis tum rapere atque omnis restinguere velle videres (OCT text, Fuchs 1977 translation).
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