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

all to see, but is located in the kitchen, invisible to guests but quite visible to slaves. Graffiti from
the house name several slaves with Greek and Syrian names. It appears that in this case, Roman
'robust traditions' were kept alive in the kitchen, and perhaps even by slaves of non-Roman
origin. Traditional assumptions about Roman ritual and its role in the family are challenged by
this example. Does the new physical context of the figurines (i.e. in the dark kitchen of a small
house) preclude their association with the robust Roman aristocratic traditions? Certainly not. It
is the assumption that traditional Roman 'family values' were the exclusive domain of the
wealthier members of society or the free members of the household that is wrong. Rustic
figurines that imply traditional Roman ritual practices are found in the peristyle of a casa grande
(I.10.4) and the service quarters of a casa piccola (I.8.18). Household ritual lies above the socio-
economic fray; it is open to all persons that embrace it. The wide degree of ritual evidence (from
none to elaborate shrines) demonstrates a wide variety of actual observance. I would argue that
household ritual and cult were personal, and based on beliefs of the household members.
Casa media In houses of medium size, shrines or ritual objects appear most commonly in
gardens; a few are also present in atria and kitchens or dining areas. 198 In gardens, shrines take
the form of arcuated niches, rarely visible from a cooking or dining area. 199 Even the arcuated
niche in the west wall of garden (8) of house I.9.12, although it is located directly across from
dining room (11), is not visible because a pillar of the garden portico blocks the view.
In only one house is a possible garden shrine visible from a dining area -- I.10.7, where a
marble statuette of Hercules rested on a shelf at the back of the garden, facing dining areas (8, 9,
12) (Fig. 2.8). In the same house, kitchen (11) and dining room (9) are both intimately associated
with their own shrine. Next to the stove in the kitchen is an elaborate painted shrine. Large
coiled serpents stretch towards a small marble slab fixed in the wall that was probably an
offering shelf (Figs. 2.27, 5.167). At the other end of the portico, the primary indoor dining-room
(9) of the house contains a small niche up in one wall that shows again two coiled serpents
snaking up towards a painted altar (Fig. 5.169). The scene is essentially a smaller copy of the
painting in the kitchen, and is a rare example of a shrine within the confines of a dining-room.
The family who lived here pursued a careful and deliberate strategy of locating their shrines in
198 I.6.15, I.9.5-7 and I.9.13-14 have no identifiable ritual areas. I.8.1-3 and I.8.8-9 have shrines at the counters
of their attached lunch counter and diner, respectively. Statuettes stored in cupboards in the atrium are the
only ritual evidence in I.6.4 and I.6.11, and a small arcuated niche appears in the southeast corner of the
atrium of I.8.17+11. An arcuated niche painted with serpents and an altar adorns the east wall of kitchen
(16) in I.10.10-11 (Fig. 5.175), one of the few shrines directly associated with a cooking or dining area.
199 I.7.7, I.7.19, I.8.17+11, I.9.3-4, I.9.12, I.10.7 and I.10.8 have shrines in their gardens.
162