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

wares in the same front room as the serving counter or in a loft above the counter. 170 In lunch
counters attached to a house, other rooms in that house were probably available for storage. 171
Diners attached to houses do not seem to have operated independently from the houses,
which supplied storage space and probably the staff to run the operation. In all diners, upper
floors were commonly used for the storage of wine amphorae, perhaps after they had been
emptied and were much lighter. Amphorae full of wine then would be stacked in corners on the
ground floor, ready to be dispensed at the counter or in the dining areas. 172 Lunch counters and
diners were presumably open at most hours of the day for the convenience of passing customers,
and it made sense for utensils and supplies to be at hand at all times. 173
Houses with or without (work)shops
Casa piccola Little good evidence of the distribution of finds has been published for most
small houses. There is limited evidence for storage on shelves in kitchens, in the under-spaces of
staircases near kitchens or dining areas, or in other ground floor or upper floor rooms. 174
Multiple storage locations appear in three houses. In the main court or atrium, remains of
cabinets, cupboards or chests (hinges, locks, and fittings) are associated with cooking and serving
170 Cooking and serving wares were stored underneath the stairs to the upper loft in I.6.5-6, and within the
single ground-floor room of I.10.13. A mortar, colander and other vessels were found fallen from the loft in
I.7.8-9. In bedroom (2) behind the counter of I.7.13-14 there are impressions of three shelves built into a wall
niche, but whether these shelves were for cooking items or for articles in the bedroom is unclear.
171 In I.4.3, cooking and serving vessels were found fallen from shelves or a cupboard in another shop
(attached to the same house) at I.4.1; a hand mill was found in space (7) behind the front room in I.10.2.
Storage vessels were placed in the NE corner of I.8.1-3 underneath stairs to the upper floor, and were
perhaps for supplementary storage; primary storage of bronze and glass cooking and serving wares was
near the lunch counter in I.8.1 itself.
172 Numerous (once full) wine amphorae were found on the ground floor, probably in court (3) of I.7.13-14;
empty amphorae were brought up to the second floor and stacked upside down. Wine amphorae were
found stored on a balcony that extended over the street at the southwest corner of I.8.15-16. Court (5) in
I.9.11 also contained a large number of wine amphorae and other large storage vessels; more amphorae in
atrium (2) of the adjacent (and connected) house I.9.12 suggest that perhaps the house was also used for
storage of goods dispensed in the diner. Wine amphorae were found throughout the diner at I.8.8: fallen
from a balcony that hung over the street to the east, in the northeast corner of atrium(4), and against the
columns and masonry dining couches of (11).
173 See Balsdon 1974, 152-154 for literary reports of business hours in cook-shops.
174 Small holes and slots that once held wooden support pegs or boards for shelving are visible above the
stoves in I.4.22 (h) and I.10.18. A space under the stairs in I.4.1-3, accessible to dining room (g) served for
storage, likewise an understair space in room (l) next to the entrance for dining room (m). In I.8.18, items
may have been stored in the space underneath the masonry staircase in room (10), next to kitchen (8). In
10.2-3, a hand mill and several amphorae were recovered from room (7) behind the attached lunch counter,
and storage and serving vessels were found fallen from the upper floor.
155