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

Type DO, "Dining area (Open Air)"
'Open air dining areas' are easily identified. They consist of couches (often constructed of
masonry) set up outside or partially sheltered under porticos, porches or bowers in gardens and
peristyles. Three masonry couches are built together at clean right angles to each other in the
horseshoe pattern; they are not offset like couches of perishable materials (Figs. 2.44, 2.46-2.48).
The ensemble varies greatly in total size, in this sample from 2.9-5.0 m. long and 4.2-5.4 m.
wide. 267 Several sets of outdoor couches in the sample were built of perishable materials. These
have been reconstructed in their garden locations on the basis of actual wooden frames and metal
fittings, or from the presence of four columns that supported a bower over the couches. 268
Masonry dining couches have surfaces that slant slightly downward from the inside to
outside edge. This incline naturally elevated the diners' heads above their feet more easily than if
they were supporting their weight on their left elbow, as was the custom on perishable dining-
couches. Cushions and covers were of course laid across the masonry to make them comfortable.
Masonry couches can have several extra features, as two dining areas in the study sample exhibit
(see I.6.2 (16); I.7.10-12 (23), Figs. 2.46-2.47, 5.89). A circular or square table of masonry always
sits in the center of the ensemble. Sometimes a ledge runs along the front of the inside of the
couches, on which goblets or food might be set. Podia are attached at the side of the couches, on
top of which dishes or a wine service might be placed; these podia sometimes contain storage
cabinets. Built in benches attached to the ends of the couches allow a place for other diners to sit.
Finally, water play from fountains, cascades or canals can supply special ambiance. 269
Open-air dining areas appear for rent in inns or diners, for group meals in collegia, or
associated with religious feasting; the minority are associated with private housing. 270 No Latin
term describes these open air dining areas; triclinium or cenatio are as applicable as any, because
both are applied to outdoor dining facilities. Finally, Soprano notes that the 'uncovered place' (in
267 The sizes of these couches cannot be used to calculate the size of perishable couches; masonry couches
are interconnected and their joined edges are not squared off, but slanted. Examples from the study sample
include: I.6.2 (16); I.7.10-12 (23); 1.7.16 (2); I.8.8-9 (11). In Soprano's (1950) seminal study of these outdoor
dining couches, their measurements as a whole have a broader range, 2.5-5.0 m. long and 3.0-5.0 m. wide.
See also Dunbabin 1991, 123-125 & n. 14-16, 23-31, who cites Jashemski 1979 (esp. 89-97), Salza Prina Ricotti
1979 and Zanker 1979.
268 Soprano 1950, 307-308 lists perishable dining couches (from the study sample) in the outdoor areas I.4.22
(l); I.7.1 (9); I.10.4 (c); I.10.7 (12); VII.1.25+47 (19).
269 I.7.10-12 (23) in this sample has a nymphaeum fountain; other good examples of water play include II.2.2
(k), a masonry dining area with two couches, one on either side of a basin, and II.4.2-3 (83), in which a
cascade falls behind the lectus medius (see Dunbabin 1991, 124-125, with refs, and Andersson 1990).
270 Dunbabin 1991, 125, with references. Religious feasting on masonry triclinia flanking the temple of
Dionysos just outside Pompeii: Jashemski 1979, 157-158. See Elia 1961 for masonry dining couches found in
a collegium headquarters outside the walls of Pompeii (Fig. 1.15). I.7.16 (2) seems also to have been a dining
area in a collegium. It has been argued that I.6.2 (16) was for rent as a formal dining facilty (Guida Laterza
1982, 106).
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