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

Commercial eating establishments The bulk of cooking installations for lunch counters
are built into the front counters, near the wide door to the street. 68 The street entrance is likewise
the aperture of choice in most diners. A few have secondary foci that are lit and vented by
windows onto the street or by the atrium or garden in which they are located. 69 The paramount
consideration is having the cooking at hand for customers. The odiferous fumes emanating from
eating establishments may have been an asset, an effective marker of the location of the business
and an advertisement of the food and drink for sale.
Houses with or without (work)shops
Casa piccola Cooking areas in small houses (excluding those with hearths that serve lunch
counters at the front) are generally set in a back corner of the house. They are thus poorly lit and
ventilated solely through the kitchen door to an adjacent court, corridor or atrium. 70 The
kitchens were dark, hot and filled with fumes.
Casa media In houses without eating establishments, less then half the kitchens have
some form of direct lighting and ventilation either via windows, or by being located within an
open area. 71 Nine kitchens are lit and vented via their doors onto a corridor, court, atrium or
garden. 72 Interestingly, nine cooking areas line the street, but only two have windows onto the
street. 73 Only the presence of a latrine in the kitchen seems to require special ventilation. The
two kitchens with windows onto the street both contain latrines within the kitchen, while six of
the seven cooking areas that do not have windows, do not have latrines. 74 No pattern
whatsoever emerges in the location of cooking areas; nearly equal numbers of kitchens appear at
the front, middle and back areas of case medie. 75
68 The one exception is the hearth for I.4.3, located in the atrium of the house behind.
69 The possible kitchen I.7.13-14 (6) has windows in the N wall into the neighboring house (I.7.19 (i), also a
likely cooking area); the two stoves in I.6.8-9 are located in the atrium and the garden.
70 The exception is I.7.2-3, which lacks a cooking area with fixed installations; court (g) provides ample light
and air to the cooking devices within. Kitchen I.9.8 (7) is the only example located not towards the back, but
is midway along the house; its door to a corridor that connects the atrium and a back court is the only source
of light and air.
71 Direct lighting and ventilation: I.6.13-14 (b), I.8. 4-6 (14), I.9.13-14 (b, o) (located within an open area);
I.6.15, I.7.7 (windows onto the street); I.8.17+11 (windows onto an open area).
72 Indirect lighting and ventilation via kitchen doors: I.6.4 (n), I.6.11 (8), I.7.19 (l), I.9.1-2 (6), I.9.5-7 (9), I.9.12
(9), I.10.7 (11), I.10.8 (9), I.10.10-11 (16).
73 I.6.15 (i) and I.7.7 (i) have windows from the kitchen onto the street. I.6.11 (8), I.8.17+11 (21), I.9.1-2 (6),
I.9.5-7 (16), I.9.13-14 (b), I.10.8 (9) and I.10.10-11 (16) are adjacent to a street but lack windows onto the street.
74 I.9.5-7 (16), a possible cooking area (no installations are preserved) is adjacent to a latrine in (15) next to
the street; no direct ventilation is provided by the street, but rather doors at either end (one to a stable, the
other to a colonnaded garden) offer the only light and air.
75 Four cooking areas are located at the front of the house (in the atrium or rooms closer to the street than
the atrium): I.6.13-14 (b), I.6.15 (i), I.7.7 (i), I.9.13-14 (b). Five are placed towards the middle of the house (in
the range of rooms in between the atrium and the back garden, court or peristyle): I.6.4 (n), I.6.11 (8), I.7.19
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