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

mark the division between service and dining areas (Fig. 5.136). 240 In some cases, the height of
the ceiling changes, or a vault is installed over the back dining area, leaving a flat ceiling in front
(Fig. 2.34). 241 A mosaic band across the floor can act as a 'threshold', accentuated by a mosaic
panel in the center of the dining area (Figs. 5.50, 5.54, 5.87, 5.156). A few dining rooms at Pompeii
have that particular 'T+U'-shaped mosaic pattern:
"a central rectangular panel is surrounded on three sides by a rectilinear area for
the couches...(and) the entrance to the room is marked by the addition of a
horizontal bar to the central panel, to provide more space here for service and
entertainment." 242
Most rooms contain only the central rectangular panel (emblema) of mosaic or opus sectile to
suggest that couches were placed around it. 243 An emblema by itself is not a sure indication of a
dining room; central mosaic panels also appear in other rooms too small to be used for dining,
such as bedrooms or sitting-rooms. Bipartite decoration was not always in fashion. It appears as
a strong feature of the second style at Pompeii (ca. 80-15 B.C.), progressively loses the
synchronization between floor and walls during the third style (ca. 20 B.C.-A.D. 45/50), and
finally disappears altogether in the fourth style (ca. A.D. 45-79). 244
Certain colors and decorative schemes have been associated with dining rooms.
Vitruvius advised making the decoration of winter dining rooms plain and dark, because fine
decoration would be masked by soot from lamps and hearths. 245 In the second style, there are
several dining rooms with a southern aspect and black ground wall decoration; by the third style,
black-based decoration is common in all manner of rooms. 246 Identifying room function based
on decorative style and subjects has not been wholly successful, falling foul of the sheer variety of
decorative schemes. A few generalities have emerged, however, as Ling points out:
"...the choice of subjects within a given decoration often unmistakably reflects the
function of the room. Bacchic pictures and motifs, not to mention still-life
240 Examples of painted bipartition from the study sample are I.9.5 (11); VII.1.25+47 (8); IX.1.22 (t'), and I.6.4
(p); I.6.7 (h); I.9.1-2 (8), where pilasters define the fore and back parts of the room.
241 An example of a change in ceiling height from the study sample is I.7.10-12 (4).
242 Dunbabin 1991, 125-126. Examples of mosaic bipartition from the study sample include I.6.4 (p); I.9.13-
14 (m); I.7.10-12 (16, 17).
243 Examples of mosaic emblemata from the sample include: I.4.9 (m); I.6.13 (4); I.6.15 (d, e); I.7.1 (16, 18);
I.7.2-3 (c); I.7.7 (b); I.9.5-7 (11, 13); I.10.4 (11); IX.2.15-16 (e); IX.2.27 (d).
244 Dates for the styles at Pompeii come from Ling 1991. Ling 1991, 48-51, 69-70, 98, 135-136 and Barbet
1985, 66-72, 130-135 discuss the chronological appearance and disappearance of bipartition, and the salient
features of this bipartition, with examples from Pompeii, Herculaneum, and the villas of Campania.
245 Vitr. 7.3.4-7.4.4; see above, pp. 102-103, n. 227-228.
246 Ling 1991, 51, 69; Allison 1992a, 247. 'Winter' dining rooms with black ground decoration identified in
the study sample: I.6.15 (e); I.7.5 (d); I.7.10-12 (10); I.9.5 (11); I.9.8 (9).
107