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

I) Decorative amenities, KI (n): Patches of white plaster remain upon the walls; the floor was of
beaten earth. There is no suggestion that the room was ever decorated (see above, n. 39).
Decorative amenities, dining areas: DR (c) contained 4th style decoration long considered
(because of its unfinished socle) to date to A.D. 79, but recently redated by Strocka to before A.D.
62, and interrupted by the earthquake. Of particular interest are three still life panels spread out
across the N wall, consisting of a central panel with figs flanked by two panels showing table
settings of silver (see Spinazzola for photographs). In the center of the E wall is a still life of
birds, and the central panel of the W wall shows a large bunch of asparagus next to three baskets
of ricotta, one of them spilled onto a large plate below (Fig. 5.53). Depictions of 'sacred' rural
landscapes add to the decoration; the floor is paved with cocciopesto.
DI◊(i) has a pavement of polychrome mosaic with concentric black and white borders in the 2nd
style. The walls are finely painted in the 4th style with some 3rd style motifs. DH•(p) was
originally decorated with splendid late 2nd style wall and floor decoration. The N section of the
floor (l. 4.36 m.) was paved with mosaic in the pattern of nine squares with geometric decoration,
separated from the plain white mosaic of the S floor section (l. 3.30 m.) by a band with floral
decoration (w. 0.83 m.) (Fig. 5.54). The bipartition of the floor is continued by a series of vertical
stripes on the walls that correspond to the floral mosaic band and separate the megalographia of
the N section of the room from the more plain decoration of the S. The N wall depicts a
philosopher seated before a globe; the E wall preserves two heraldic elephants guided by cupids,
opposite the muse Clio on the W wall. The S. wall of this room, added after the secession of the
cryptoporticus to (I.6.2), was only coarsely plastered. This indicates either that the room
eventually would have been redecorated if the eruption had not occurred (Maiuri 1942a), or that
the room had completely lost its formal function (Allison).
J) Sanctity: The painted and stuccoed ceiling and upper frieze of room (e) has led some scholars
(e.g. Schefold, Guida Laterza 1982) to interpret it as a shrine, but Allison's documentation of
storage in this area confirms Boyce's strong doubts about a ritual function here. The three
figurines found in the remains of a cupboard in the NW corner of atrium (b) (Della Corte NSc
1913, 33-34) better represent the ritual paraphernalia belonging to this household.
Synthesis
The disassociation of this house from I.6.2 and its cryptoporticus, and the renovations
carried out in the house before and after the A.D. 62 earthquake make it difficult to determine
clearly the pattern of cooking and dining. While DR (c) was unquestionably intended for dining,
its condition at the time of the eruption suggests a temporary suspension of use. DR•(p) was
originally designed as the premier reception room of the house, but after the blocking off of its S
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