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

H) Installation amenities, KI (h): A masonry ST of sub-type (1), l. 2.26, w. 0.54-0.69, h. 0.82 takes
up most of the S wall towards the SE corner of the room (Fig. 5.43). It has a tiled surface, and has
been heavily restored. Light and air are admitted via the door to the atrium, and by a slit
window high up in the N wall onto the stairwell in (g). The water source was the cistern in the
atrium which probably contained water drawn from the garden (k, l) as well as the atrium itself.
There are no obvious accommodations for drainage. However, in the NE corner of the kitchen is
a short wall (l. 0.75, w. 0.29, h. 0.08) that runs S from that corner along the E wall. Associated
with this wall and W of it is a plastered area preserved for 0.75 x 0.70 m. This feature might be
the remnant of either a basin, sink, or perhaps a latrine, all implying drainage. Another wall of
comparable dimensions skirts the W wall of the KI in the SW corner. Both features are
fragmentary; their functions are ultimately uncertain. In lieu of proper drains inside the house,
the street was close enough for dumping waste water. Two holes, d. 0.10 m., are punched one
above the other in the S wall above the counter; these would have supported shelving. Other
storage may have been in room (f), as Fiorelli suggests, or perhaps the two small cells (m, n).
Installation amenities, dining areas: For DO◊(l), Soprano suggests that a rectangular area of
1.70 x 2.50 m. in the SE corner of the garden (l), paved in cocciopesto, was appropriate for
locating a wooden dining-couch that has not survived.
I) Decorative amenities, dining areas: Both possible dining areas are devoid of decoration.
J) Sanctity: No ritual material is reported from this house.
Synthesis
The identification of dining in both DI◊(d) and DO◊(l) is tenuous; because of the ongoing
renovation in the house at the time of the eruption, any decoration that might help identify the
function or the visual impact of these rooms is absent. Based on the available evidence, however,
it appears that cooking and dining were very much centered around the atrium, the only large
space and the clear center of this small house. The kitchen and both dining areas were all
moreover visible to visitors emerging from the narrow entrance corridor. Finally, there may have
been some effort to create seasonal dining spaces, with DI◊(d) off the atrium for use in winter,
and DO◊(l) for summer. Practicality and convenience appear to be the rationale behind the
spatial patterning of cooking and eating. However, framing the impluvium for the view from
DO◊(l) does reveal some desire to construct the best vista for dining that the house could offer.
11. I.4.23-24, Tabernae, (work)shop (Figs. 2.3, 5.2, 5.13)
Synopsis
This complex once consisted of two shops, each with a back room. The front rooms of
both shops were joined in their last phase of use. The shop at #23 has a doorway that connects to
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