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

space, (3) stove with squared under-space. 108 All stoves were used in the same way: cooking
fires were built on the top tiled surface amongst the ashes and pots, alone or on cooking stands or
tripods, sat over the flames. In some houses, the features of two different sub-types of stove
appear together, e.g. a stove with an arched or squared under-space combined with a stove or
counter of solid masonry (Figs. 2.25-2.26). 109 There does not appear to be a specific Latin term
for a stove; no author describes the tile-topped counter upon which cooking fires were laid. Focus
may have been used, and perhaps furnus as well.
Sub-type (1) The solid stove is simply a tile-topped block-like mass of masonry, usually
of a rectangular shape, ca. 1.22-3.00 m. long, 0.32-1.16 m. deep, and 0.50-0.90 m. high (Fig.
2.19). 110
Sub-type (2) This kind of stove has its top tiled cooking surface supported by one or
more masonry or brick arches. It measures ca. 0.85-3.70 m. long, 0.42-1.29 m. deep, and 0.50-0.90
m. high. The arches range from a perfect semicircle to being nearly flat, and some are even
pointed or triangular in shape (Figs. 2.20-2.22, 2.27-2.28). 111 It is generally accepted that the open
spaces formed by the arches beneath the stove were used for the storage of fuel. 112
Sub-type (3) The third sort of stove measures ca. 0.97-2.76 m. long, 0.70-1.22 m. deep, and
0.50-0.90 m. high. It consists of a masonry, tile-topped cooking surface which is supported by
two stub walls on either end, or one stub wall with the other end built into and supported by a
house wall (Figs. 2.23-2.24). 113 Wooden (and sometimes stone) beams span the space between
the stub walls and act as architraves to hold the cooking surface up from underneath. Most
stoves of this type are in a poor state of preservation, because the wooden support beams have
108 These types were recognized first by Fulvio 1879, 275-277, and followed by Salza Prina Ricotti 1978/80,
241-243. See also Dosi & Schnell 1986b, 84-90; Salza Prina Ricotti 1987, 118-119.
109 I.7.18 (e) originally had a stove with two square under-spaces side by side; the easternmost space was
later blocked up solid, perhaps because the stove-surface was not being sufficiently supported on that side.
IX.1.4 (b) has a single peaked arch next to a small solid stove, and I.10.4 (52) has a double-arched stove next
to a large solid stove or counter space.
110 Examples include: I.4.5+25 (42); I.4.9 (o); I.4.22 (h); I.6.4 (n); I.6.11 (8); I.7.7 (i); I.7.10-12 (7); I.8.10 (9); I.9.8
(7); I.9.10 (2); I.10.11 (16); I.10.18 (9); VII.1.38 (d); VII.1.40 (14); IX.1.6 (a); IX.1.22 (l', t); IX.1.31-32 (b); IX.2.10
(o); IX.2.17 (m); IX.2.26 (b); IX.2.27 (g).
111 Examples include [one arch]: I.4.4 (b); I.6.2 (16); I.6.7 (m); I.7.5 (c); I.8.17 (21); I.10.1 (5); I.10.7 (11); VII.1.32
(1); VII.14.9 (6); IX.1.27 (1); IX.2.18 (n); IX.2.25 (a); [two arches]: I.8.5 (13); VII.14.5 (20); IX.1.20 (x); [three
arches]: I.7.1 (14); [four arches]: I.7.10.19 (l). Two triangular 'arches' support a stove in room (55) of VI.9.7,
which is not in the study sample.
112 Mau 1908, 266-267; Dosi & Schnell 1986b, 86; Salza Prina Ricotti 1987, 118.
113 Examples include: I.6.8-9 (c); I.6.15 (i); I.7.10-12 (21); I.9.9 (4); I.10.8 (9); VII.1.27 (4); IX.2.4 (g); IX.2.7-8 (e);
IX.2.19-21 (q) [three stub walls, creating an extra long stove]. See also stove (c) in the hallway of the upstairs
apartment in the Casa a Graticcio (III.13) in Herculaneum.
80