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

were an iron cooking grill and tripod, and a bronze skillet. Further to the W along the same wall
a bronze cauldron and a seven-toothed, handled 'hook' were reported. 43 On the stove-top itself
were a covered cauldron and a bronze bowl, both on iron tripods. Next to the stove against the
W wall were two more bronze cauldrons, and numerous terracotta vessels, including four coarse
plates, a small amphora, and a bowl containing some sheep, chicken and cuttlefish bones. Still
against the W wall were four truncated amphorae, two bowls, two coarseware pots, an oinochoe,
and a flat mixing bowl. To the E, under the stairs to a terrace, were two more rows of truncated
amphorae. The two photos (Figs. 1.1, 5.56) that claim to show the kitchen exactly as it was found
actually show different assemblages, including more jugs and pans hung on the S wall, and more
vessels on the stove proper. Even if the described inventory is complete, the precise disposition
of those vessels cannot be reconstructed. This collection is most important for the range of
cooking devices and vessels that speak for the boiling, stewing, grilling and frying of food.
Light and ventilation for KI (m) came from the peristyle garden (p) to the N, which also was
designed to collect a large quantity of water off of the terrace roofs (needed for industrial
purposes), which was channeled to a cistern whose head was located in the SW corner, near the
kitchen. A pipe immured in the S wall of the kitchen was part of the system that moved the
water from the terrace to the cistern. Latrine (l) probably provided simple drainage for the
kitchen; the various work-basins in the SE of the house do not have their own drainage outlets.
Latrine (l) itself was a small self-contained alcove just N of KI (m) with its own shed roof.
Installation amenities, dining areas: No evidence for dining couches was found in DR◊(g); a
bronze oinochoe from the NE corner and a wooden and bronze chest near the entrance
containing a large pot amongst several tools are scant evidence for dining. 44 However, in the
remains of a large cupboard in the NE corner of atrium (e) were stored several relevant items:
one bronze pan; four glass bottles, a cup, glass and funnel; one terracotta pitcher, three shallow
bowls, three deeper bowls, a cup, jug and a pot. The storage of these items in the corner of the
atrium next to DR◊(g) would have been convenient, but their presence cannot confirm a dining
function for the room. 45
Proof that DR (h) was a dining room before the house was converted into a fullery consists first of
two couch-niches. The niche for the width of the lectus medius (1.38 m.) is still preserved; the E
niche was later blocked up. Secondly, the wall decoration had bipartition by stucco 'pilasters' in
43 For an example of this type of 'hook', the various interpretations associated with it, and recent
bibliography, see Alimentazione 1987, 157, #57. The device is usually called a harpago, or meat hook, but
Della Corte (see above) thought it was for stirring up coals.
44 Della Corte NSc 1912, 333.
45 Della Corte NSc 1912, 286.
221