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

association with food, and as a result, household gods were able to watch over both ends of the
meal: preparation and consumption. 200
Casa grande Large houses continue to demonstrate a variety of number, kind and location
of shrines, from the one painted niche in garden (12) of the Casa del Criptoportico (I.6.2) to the
seven shrines reported from the Casa del Menandro (I.10.4). In most of these houses, loci of ritual
seem to fall into categories corresponding to the free and servile members of the household. This
dichotomy of ritual areas is explored in the examples below.
In the Casa del Citarista (I.4.5), ritual expression and practice are divided between
simpler shrines in servants' areas, and more expensive ritual objects in the display areas of the
atria and peristyles. Kitchen (42) had a simple niche above the stove (Fig. 5.28). Court (21)
contained a brazier, two small bronze altars, and two bronze statuettes of Minerva; it seems to
have been the headquarters of the household staff. Atrium (47) contained a more expensive
ritual item: a silver statuette of a togate 'sacrificant'. Peristyle (32) was the locus of a marble altar,
and two herms were associated with a bronze sculptural group in peristyle (17).
In the Casa del Efebo (I.7.10-12), a standard painted niche shrine was installed in atrium
(A'), servants' quarters with a combination kitchen/dining room (7) nearby. The main garden
had a pair of luxurious indoor (17) and outdoor (23) dining areas facing each other amongst
shrines, paintings and statuary that evoked traditional Roman religion, Greek gods and
goddesses, and sacred Egyptian landscapes (Fig. 5.21). In the Casa di Paquius Proculus I.7.1, a
simple arcuated niche was cut into the southeast corner of kitchen (14) (Fig. 2.22), while a finely
carved marble altar sat in room (17), easily accessible to dining areas (9, 16, 18).
Specialization of ritual areas is clearest in the Casa del Menandro, I.10.4. In his
publication, Maiuri associated the various shrines with various household members according to
their rank and status. 201 The most elaborate shrine is encountered immediately upon entering
the house, an aedicula located prominently in one corner of the atrium, across from the tablinum,
and presumably fit for ritual conducted by the patron himself (Fig. 1.22). In a small room
immediately behind this aedicula is a masonry stair to the upper story and beneath the arches of
that stair is an podium-like altar with a smaller altar below it next to an arcuated niche. Perhaps
this undecorated, 'humble' arrangement was used by those who lived up those stairs. In the
200 A parallel to I.10.7 outside the study sample can be found in I.13.2, which falls into the casa media
category. There the kitchen has a large painted sacrifice scene that depicts the entire household as well as
representations of food products, and an outdoor dining area with a niche behind the masonry couches, in
which a bronze statuette of Athena was found in situ. In this house cooking and eating are completely
integrated with ritual. See PPM II, 874-880, Fröhlich 1991, 261 #L29, and Orr 1973, 161-162 for
documentation of these shrines.
201 Maiuri 1933, 33: "Questa nobile casa conteneva più larari e sacelli, così come si ha in altre nobili e
grandiose dimore: larari di carattere signorile e larari di carattere rustico."
163