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

Casa grande Kitchens in large houses have poor lighting and ventilation, except for those
located alongside a street, which tend to have windows. 76 Other fixed cooking areas in large
houses are located in or off open areas, and thus were lit only indirectly via doorways. 77 The two
largest and best equipped kitchens are, by all available evidence, the most poorly lit and
ventilated. 78 They are located down long corridors, the only outlets for smoke and fumes.
Placed at significant distances from open gardens, their seclusion from guests in reception areas
was apparently more important than the provision of light and air for slave cooks. Small niches
are set above the stoves of both kitchens; they contained lamps that provided auxiliary lighting.
Water and drainage
I will examine the provision of fresh water for the cooking and serving process, the
ability to remove waste and waste water via drains and latrines, and the sharing of water
resources with bath facilities in the building. These questions are concerned with fixed cooking
areas; portable cooking devices were as easily brought to water as water brought to them. The
ability to maintain an independent water supply depended exclusively upon whether an area
open to the sky was maintained within the building to collect rainwater. Buildings large enough
to afford open space ((work)shop-houses, diners and houses) could supply their own water.
Larger houses had commensurably larger water collection capacity. Additional water could
always be procured from the public fountains, which remained the only source for the
(work)shops and lunch counters. Houses and (work)shop-houses usually paired kitchens and
latrines. The two domestic activities creating the most and most dangerous refuse were
effectively quarantined. The largest houses took water-use to another level, employing it in
fountains and baths. Their kitchens were also provided with the most comprehensive system of
drainage via sinks and latrines. Access to and exploitation of water resources was a clear and
visible marker of wealth and power.
(Work)shops Individual water sources were not found in any of the (work)shops; water
was carried in from one of the many public fountains placed across the city by the first century
A.D. For buildings in this sample, public fountains were located at the northwest corner of insula
(l), I.9.1-2 (6), I.10.8 (9). Six rest in the back of the house (in the back open space or in a space off of it): I.8.4-6
(14), I.8.17+11 (21), I.9.5-7 (16), I.9.12 (9), I.10.7 (11), I.10.10-11 (16).
76 I.4.5+25 (64), I.7.10-12 (8, 21) have windows onto the street; the latter two kitchens also contain latrines.
I.10.4 (52) once had a window onto the street that was later blocked up; the latrine is located in an adjacent
area.
77 I.10.4 (41) is located within a small atrium which provides light and air; I.4.5+25 (42), I.6.2+16 (16), I.7.1
(14), I.7.10-12 (7) are lit and vented indirectly.
78 I.4.5+25 (42) and I.10.4 (52), the main kitchens in those houses. Also I.6.2+16 [F], before A.D. 62.
136