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

16. I.6.3, Officina e taberna di Verus, (work)shop (Figs. 2.4, 5.3, 5.15)
Synopsis
In the SW corner of the front room (a) of this shop is the base for stairs to an upper loft.
The front room is simply decorated; the floor is cocciopesto with polychrome marble inserts.
Turned up the base of the walls as a socle, the flooring joins the black and red line decoration on a
white ground that covers the walls, dating to the first century A.D. The back room (b) has a
window high up in its S wall onto the atrium of (I.6.2), reached by two doors from room (a).
Within the property, nearly 360 finds were recovered, including at least 150 metal objects,
the great majority being bronze. Among the finds were a groma for land surveying, other
technical instruments and 33 bronze vases that included candelabrae and twelve oinochoe.
Notices to the W of the entrance name a Verus, who identifies himself as a faber (aerarius). The
manufacture, repair and sale of metal goods seem to have taken place at this establishment.
Most of the evidence for cooking or dining on the premises comes from (probably) an
upper floor deposit. Found in the ash between the floor of (a) and ca. 0.5 m. above it were the
remains of twenty coarseware terracotta vases, including plates, pots, jugs and bowls, and
another twenty smashed glass bottles, plates, cups and jars. 31 The terracotta set may have been
used for cooking and serving; vessels could have been heated above rough cooking supports of
the associated amphora fragments (single necks, or three toes can serve as supports; see I.7.18
and I.9.13-14, Fig. 5.153). The glass wares must have been for eating and drinking. Apparently
stored in one of the several cabinets identified in room (a) were a glass ladle, four bowls and a
small pot of terracotta, and a silver spoon. Work, business, and storage were carried out on the
ground floor; there is evidence for cooking and eating (and storage) both upstairs and
downstairs.
References
PPM I, 278-279; PPP I, 26; CTP IIIA, 10-11; Gralfs 1988, 64-68; Gassner 1986, 129; Guida Laterza
1982, 106; Della Corte 1954, 242-243, #585; Della Corte 1927, 18-19; Beccarini 1922, 12; Della Corte
NSc 1912, 141, 143, 252-256, 181-182, 251-256.
Data
A) Total area: 50.4 Nodes: 29.4 Connectors: 6.8 Static spaces: 19.9
B) Total # spaces: 3 # Nodes: 1 # Connectors: 1 # Static spaces: 1
31 Della Corte NSc 1912, 252-256: "...fra il pavimento e i 50 cm. di altezza, una ventina di vasi rustici di
terracotta di ogni forma: p iatti, pignatte, boccali, urcei, ecc.; e di vetro, sempre in frammenti impossibili a
ricomporsi, altri venti vasi circa fra bottiglie, piatti, tazze e barattoli."
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