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

stairwell that ran beneath its large triple-arched stove. A brazier stored in room (15) added to the
cooking capacity of the house (Fig. 5.19).
Light and ventilation
Provisions for light and ventilation in cooking areas were almost universally miserable;
whether in the smallest (work)shop or the largest house, kitchens tended to be dark, and full of
smoke and stench. The only exceptions were braziers, and stoves or hearths set in the corners of
airy atria, courts, gardens, or peristyles. Cooking in open areas was common only in (work)shop-
houses, where it was a practical measure, and where the reception of guests was not a priority.
The lack of concern for kitchen environments was probably due to the fact that slaves worked
there. 64 Occupants of (work)shops or (work)shop-houses probably prepared their own meals
and so arranged their cooking areas to take maximum advantage of available light and air.
(Work)shops (Work)shops are too small to have an interior court or light well. As a
result, only the wide entrance onto the street allowed light in and cooking smoke out. In the two
(work)shops where there is a fixed hearth or stove, it is located not in the front room near the
street, but in a separate space away from the front entrance (Figs. 5.8, 5.20). 65 Unless the roof
above these two cooking areas was pierced with a skylight or chimney (and no such evidence is
reported), the street would have been the only source for light and air. In some (work)shops,
only cookwares and portable cooking devices were found; cooking could have been done in the
front room next to the door, on the threshold, or even on the sidewalk outside the door.
(Work)shop-houses Half of the cooking installations in (work)shop-houses are located
within an area open to the sky (i.e. atrium, garden or court). 66 In these cases, the cooking areas
are lit and ventilated directly. Cooking is consequently visible to anyone in the building; no
effort is made to conceal the process of cooking or the persons who cook. In the other
(work)shop-houses, cooking areas are located in a space immediately adjacent to an open area,
and lit and vented exclusively by the open area, or by windows onto the street. 67 Occupants of
(work)shop-houses judiciously build their cooking areas proximate to an open area in order to
exploit natural light and ventilation.
64 For the comments of the elite on their smoke-filled kitchens, see chapter two, pp. 74-77.
65 I.4.4 and I.7.4.
66 I.6.8-9 (stoves in atrium (c) and garden (i)), I.7.5 (stove under shed roof in court (c)), I.7.16 (stove/hearth in
court (2)), I.8.13 (stove in court (1)), I.10.1 (stove under shed roof in court (5)).
67 The open area provides light and air in: I.6.7 (m), I.7.18 (e), I.9.9 (4). I.8.10 (9) has two large windows
above the stove in this subterranean room; I.9.10 (2) has two small windows to the east of the kitchen area.
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