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

a survey of 73 triclinia from the grander villas and houses throughout the Roman world, Förtsch
finds only three examples of dining rooms with exact 2:1 proportions. 190
Proper proportion for the height of a room is just as important as its length and breadth.
Vitruvius states that oblong triclinia should have proportionally lower ceilings than the more
spacious oeci. The height of a room has a profound impact upon one's impression of its
spaciousness. Low ceilings tend to force an occupant's attention out of the room through doors
or windows. High ceilings on the other hand allow one's attention to linger in the room itself and
to focus on its architectural elaboration. The grander style of decoration in oeci (as Vitruvius
describes them) goes hand in hand with their greater height and increased spaciousness.
It is doubtful that Vitruvius ever considered these proportions as anything other than
ideals, and ideals not often realized. Immediately after his discussion of oeci, Vitruvius provides
leeway for modifying the proportions of rooms:
In these kinds of buildings, all the rules of symmetry must be followed which
can be made without hindrance on the part of the site, and the windows will be
easily arranged, as long as they are not obscured by the heights of walls beyond.
But if they are impeded by narrow spots or other inalterable factors, then, by
cleverness and cunning, additions or subtractions must be made in the
proportions so that similarly attractive spaces may be achieved with the right
proportions. 191
The key phrase states that the rules of proportion should be followed only as far as the site
allows. In Pompeii, building options were restricted by neighboring properties in most areas of
the city, and property lines were constantly being re-drawn as real estate changed hands. 192
Pompeians chose to arrange the size and proportions of their rooms as they best fit the available
space; the result was a variety of dining room shapes and sizes.
There is a close relationship between the proportions of a room and its architectural
decoration. To this point, Vitruvius provides some ornamental and structural details on four
different variations of oeci: tetrastylus, Corinthius, Aegyptius, and Cyzicenus. Because of Vitruvius'
descriptions, it has been possible for scholars to identify, with reasonable certainty, examples of
these dining room variations on the ground. 193
190 Förtsch 1993, 102, n.1280: the villa at Settefinestre, room (2), the Villa dei Papyri at Herculaneum, room
(8), and the villa at Stabia, loc. Sassola, room (16).
191 Vitr. 6.3.11: In his aedificorum generibus omnes sunt faciendae earum symmetriarum rationes, quae sine
impeditione loci fieri poterunt, luminaque, parietum altitudinibus si non obscurabuntur, faciliter erunt explicata; sin
autem impedientur ab angustiis aut aliis necessitatibus, tunc erit ut ingenio et acumine de symmetriis detractiones aut
adiectiones fiant, uti non dissimiles veris symmetriis perficiantur venustates. (Loeb text, author's translation). This
is Vitruvius' utilitas (1.3.2); see Clarke 1991, 369.
192 See for example Ling's 1983 study of the Insula del Menandro (I.10).
193 Vitr. 6.3.8-10. Maiuri 1952 is the prime source for these dining room types, including excellent
photographs, plans, and reconstructed elevations. Other sources which discuss these types of oeci in relation
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