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

of the cryptoporticus galleries, and includes several still life panels depicting fish, a rooster and
fruit, and a banquet of satyrs. The kitchen that served this dining room seems to have been
located in the bath service area [F]. Maiuri (NSc 1933, 269) reported (refer to Fig. 5.50): ...lungo la
parete occidentale, tre piedretti e l'accenno a volticine fanno suppore l'estizenza di un basso
focolare (f 1 ): inoltre nell'angolo nord-ovest si osserva un rozzo podio construito (f 2 )." Maiuri
argued that DR•[22] was not used for dining in part because "non abbiamo in tutto il pianterreno
alcuna traccia dell'apprestamento di una cucina in servizio del triclinio, all'infuori delle incerte
vestigia di un focolare che si notano nel praefurnium F, il quale non ebbe mai alcuna
comunicazione diretta con questa sala." 33 From DR•[22], service area [F] was reached through
vestibule [21], which had a doorway into the latrine; thence, a narrow corridor continued N along
the E side of the building into [F]. Connections between the stove and the dining area were
surely difficult, which is perhaps why the door to the latrine from vestibule [21] was closed off at
some point, and the W wall of service area [F] was opened up. It is unclear whether this
modification of [F] led to the demolition of the stove; perhaps at the same time, the S entrance of
DR•[22] to room [23] was blocked off by a low masonry podium that could have served for
cooking, further defining the pre-existing bipartition of the pavement. 34 Maiuri's objections to
cooking and eating in the cryptoporticus are not well founded, but the fragmentary nature of the
evidence leaves the question open.
Earthquake damage, demolition, and the filling up of most of the E wing of the
cryptoporticus followed. The restructuring of the eastern half of this insula reduced and closed
off (I.6.4) to the rooms around courts (b, m). That post-earthquake state will be analyzed in depth
below (Fig. 5.16). A short fauces (a) leads to atrium (b), with rooms only on the E side. DR (c)
occupies the NE corner of the house, next to stairs to upper floor rooms (Figs. 5.53). Bedrooms (d,
l) both contained preserved remnants of their beds against their back walls; in the storage space
under the stairs accessible in (l) were found two amphorae, one filled with carbonized
hazelnuts. 35 DI◊(i) is centered on the E side of the atrium, and tablinum (f) is centered on the S,
next to a small storage room (e) whose vault is painted and stuccoed with scenes from the Iliad.
A narrow corridor (g) reaches the back court (m) of the house, in which piles of gypsum for
making plaster to re-stucco the walls are still visible along the E wall and in the NW corner. KI
(n) lies to the E (Fig. 5.51). DH•(p) occupies the SE corner of the house, providing access to
cubicula (r, q) (Figs. 5.54). Directly S of the court is room (s), where a mortar was fixed in the
pavement in the NE corner, in the company of large quantities of gypsum and a mallet. A lime
33 Maiuri NSc 1933, 265.
34 Maiuri NSc 1933, 263 n. 2 argues expressly against this podium serving as a hearth, apparently for no
other reason than that he does not wish to see dining in DR•[22].
35 The bed in (d) measured: l. 2.35, w. 1.24 m.; in (l): l. 2.31, w. 1.32 m. (Spinazzola I, 447). For the hazelnuts,
see Della Corte NSc 1913, 83.
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