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

numbers (see Table 3.2). At smallest, they are a single room (the node) off the street. 7 The second
group has a node fronting the street and a single room behind. 8 The third group is slightly
larger, with a node and up to three other rooms behind. 9
Buildings in this category possess a single independent entrance and are not directly
connected to a larger building. I do not consider issues of ownership, only of habitation; it is
impossible to know whether an architecturally independent (work)shop was in fact owned by the
proprietor of an adjacent, larger building. Architecturally independent units are therefore
assumed to be separate units of habitation. 10 Shops directly accessible from larger houses that
have their own street entrance are treated as parts of the houses.
(Work)shops have a single node, the space with a wide door onto the street suitable for
producing and displaying wares, and transacting business. They often, but not always, have
staircases to lofts above, presumably for storage and/or habitation. There are no spaces open to
the sky; all light and air must come from via the front entrance, or from windows onto the street
or into neighboring properties. Consequently these properties may be described as small, dark
and cramped. Habitation seems likely in units with back rooms (some possess a bed niche) or
with lofts. In the sample, only I.4.10 and I.10.9 lack either an extra room or a stair, unless they
had wooden ladders to lofts that did not survive the eruption. I assume that the remaining
(work)shops housed persons on a regular basis. Wallace-Hadrill's method of estimating one
person per ground-floor living space (not counting connectors, latrines or storage spaces)
suggests 1-4 persons per (work)shop. 11
The distribution of (work)shops is enlightening. Both independent (work)shops and
those attached to houses are almost exclusively clustered along major thoroughfares (Fig. 2.2).
76% of all the independent (work)shops and 80% of the houses with (work)shops or eating
establishments in their facades fall along the Via Stabiana or Via dell'Abbondanza, two of the
three major arteries of the city. Their location obviously takes advantage of the heavy traffic
along those routes, which connect directly to four city gates, the forum, two public baths, and the
theater-odeon complex. Location determined function; few houses could afford to pass up the
7 One-room (work)shops from the study sample: I.4.10, I.10.9 (without stairs); I.4.8, I.4.20-21, I.7.6, I.8.7,
I.10.12 (with stairs); mean 21.3 m 2 , range 9.6-30.1 m 2
8 Two-room (work)shops from the study sample: I.4.4 (without stairs), I.4.18, I.4.19, I.6.3, I.6.10, I.6.12, I.10.5-
6 (with stairs); mean 43.8 m 2 , range 38.6-56.1 m 2
9 Multiple-room (work)shops from the study sample: I.4.7, I.4.23-24, I.4.26, I.7.15, I.7.17 (without stairs); I.6.1,
I.7.4 (with stairs); mean 56.3 m 2 , range 45.0-69.7 m 2
10 Wallace-Hadrill 1994, 103-108 draws a strict distinction between habitation and ownership. He is aware
that the latter question cannot be answered, particularly via Della Corte's (1954) method of fabricating
owners and residents from inscriptions found in or near the house, as both Castren 1975 and Mouritsen 1988
have proved.
11 Wallace-Hadrill 1994, 91-117. It is extremely difficult to calculate populations of buildings; I follow his
method because it is simple and gives reasonable results.
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