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

sacred union of Isis and Osiris in the artificial Nilotic setting of the W wall of the garden. The
depictions and motifs of Dionysos, Osiris and Itys on the walls of DR•(e) are taken as further
evidence for a household concern with deities associated with an afterlife. She also considers the
black atmosphere of DR•(e) to have been an appropriate setting for ritual banquets for initiates.
These suggestions are intriguing, considering the house's position only two blocks due east of the
Temple of Isis. However, the Egyptianizing motifs may be as easily explained in terms of the
patron's artistic preferences, and the water channel in garden (h) was certainly used to direct
water fallen from the roof to the two large cisterns underneath the garden. 55 Without more
secure corroborating evidence, De Vos' suggestion must remain an interesting hypothesis.
Synthesis
If the original kitchen of the house was indeed located in room (l, m, n), it was a
convenient location for serving either DR•(d) or DR•(e), while being provided with light,
ventilation and water from garden (h). It is unclear why the kitchen was moved to room (i) after
the earthquake. Perhaps the installation and subsequent fumes of the work-basins of the fullonica
(I.6.7) immediately to the N made the space uncomfortable for food preparation. The fullonica
did not, however, prevent the owner of this house from painting the walls of garden (h) with
elaborate 4th style decoration.
It is more likely that this house did not contain a kitchen with fixed installations in its
original phases -- portable appliances such as the BZ found in (l) were used instead. The
installation of a ST, HE, and grinding podium in (i) may represent a considerable upgrade of the
house's cooking facilities, combined with a new latrine. De Vos (PPM I, 408) interprets the grand
painting in garden (h) to be part of the owner's plan to impress guests during his runs for offices
in the 70's A.D. Given the important link in Roman society between entertaining and political
and social fortunes, a better equipped kitchen may have been required to provide satisfactory
meals. The new KI (i) was convenient for serving DR•(d) and DR•(e), and was well-supplied
with light, ventilation, water and drainage. The BZ and WH stored in the back of the house
would have been brought out when necessary to keep food and drink warm, and in the case of
DR•(e), to help heat the room during the winter season. The new location of KI (i) was by no
means more visible to guests in the dining rooms merely because of its position off the atrium;
any view to the entrance of the kitchen from either dining room was almost completely blocked
by the position of the columns in the center of the atrium. Guests would have had only fleeting
glimpses of the servants moving through the atrium before they arrived at the threshold of the
dining room bearing food.
55 Consult De Vos 1980 for a general treatise on Egyptianizing motifs and styles in early Imperial painted
and mosaic decoration.
240