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

Commercial eating establishments Decoration of dining areas in diners is not often
preserved; when it is, simple white or plain plaster is common on the walls, and floors rarely
have special treatment. I.8.8 (2) is an exception, possessing simple red ground third style wall
decoration, a plaster cornice and an central emblema of opus sectile inserted in the cocciopesto
floor. Providing an elegantly elaborate setting for customers does not seem to have been a high
priority for owners or operators of the commercial dining establishments in this sample, although
eating places of higher caliber are known elsewhere in the city (Figs. 2.47-2.48). 153
Houses with or without (work)shops
Casa piccola Dining areas in small houses are comparable to those in (work)shop-houses.
Pavements are of cocciopesto, sometimes with white inset tesserae for decoration. Tesserae form
an intricate emblema in I.7.2-3 (c) and identify the position of the dining couches. In I.4.22 (m), an
emblema of multi-colored opus sectile marks the focus of that room. No wholly mosaic floors
were identified.
Wall painting is based on red or white ground, with black and yellow for socles and
panels or bands. Painting is poorly preserved in general, making styles and patterns difficult to
identify. Only three examples preserve any appreciable detail. 154 Painting is in the second to
fourth style. As in (work)shop-houses, small details ornament the decorative panels, and no
large scale figural paintings or mythological scenes are found.
Casa media These dining areas are decorated with noticeably more expensive materials
and more detailed treatment. The evidence also tends to be better preserved. Pavements are
largely cocciopesto (twenty-two of thirty-four visible floors), and most are decorated with white
tesserae set in patterns (ten examples) or dense carpets of polychrome or white and black
limestone chips (four examples). Selected dining areas, however, have more elaborate floors.
There are five emblemata of opus sectile, and two of mosaic, and three complete mosaic floors. 155
No mosaic floors or mosaic emblemata are present in buildings of a smaller size. The material
expense in acquiring colored marbles for opus sectile and the labor and time required for laying
mosaics must have been significant factors in determining what households could afford them.
153 See Parslow 1989 and Jashemski 1979, 167-181. The Praedia di Julia Felix (II.2), for instance, has a highly
decorated dining room for rent in (83) at entrance #2-3, as well as a diner at a separate entrance #7,
decorated simply with red plaster.
154 Some candelabra decoration remains in I.4.9 (m); in I.8.18 (6), a central aedicula is flanked by wreath
medallions below a frieze of imitation ashlar blocks that imitates the first style decoration of the opposite
wall on the south side of the atrium. I.10.18 {11} has small detailed panels at the center of each large panel
that comprises the middle zone; in the upper zone, oinochoes and tambourines are shown hanging by
strings from just below the plaster cornice.
155 Opus sectile emblemata: I.6.15 (d, e), I.7.7 (b), I.9.1-2 (10), I.9.5-7 (13), ; mosaic emblemata: I.9.5-7 (11),
I.9.13 (j); mosaic floors: I.6.4 (i, p), I.9.13 (j).
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