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

26. I.7.1+20, Casa di P. Paquius Proculus, casa grande
(Figs. 2.5, 2.22, 5.4, 5.19, 5.67-5.70)
Synopsis
A thorough analysis of the building history of this house is due in Ehrhardt's forthcoming
monograph; I will sketch out only the major phases. Construction of the house, with its 1st style facade
and 1st style decor in the forward bedroom (4) and room (15), dates roughly to the second century B.C.
The original form of the house probably included the house to the E at (I.7.2-3), which may have served
as a kind of second atrium. 2nd style decoration in the cryptoporticus provides an approximate 1 c.
B.C. date to the construction of those underground rooms, as well as the peristyle above. KI (14)
includes the stairway down to the underground rooms and must be as early as the cryptoporticus.
Extensive decorating in the 3rd style followed, with particular attention to mosaic pavements. After the
earthquake of A.D. 62, various wall repairs and redecorations were carried out throughout the house,
including entrance (1-2), atrium (3), tablinum (6), area (8), around peristyle (9) and DR•(18).
The entrance (1-2) to the house, guarded by a 'cave canem' mosaic, leads into the high
Tuscan atrium (3) with no side rooms. The spectacular early 3rd style mosaic floor of the atrium
is divided into square and rectangular panels, each with an animal (largely birds) depicted at the
center. Particularly interesting are two panels facing each other from the E and W sides of the
marble impluvium, containing a male and female silhouette respectively, perhaps the master and
mistress of the house. Two bedrooms (4, 7) flank the entrance to the N; the latter had an auxiliary
entrance onto the atrium via a narrow space on its SE side. Two alcoves on the E wall of the
atrium, formed from blocked-up doorways to (I.7.2-3), served as built-in storage cabinets. At the
SW corner of the atrium, corridor (5) led through to the peristyle and, by a stairway along its W
wall, to upper floor rooms over (6, 8) and the NW corner of the peristyle. The southernmost of
these upper floor rooms was a colonnaded cenaculum (subdivided into two rooms, each l. 4.0, w.
3.0 m.) that overlooked the peristyle. By virtue of its elevation and the topography sloping away
to the S, the cenaculum must have had a clear view of the mountains in that direction. On the
ground floor, tablinum had wide entrances onto both the atrium and area (8), and a large alcove
was built into the E side of the room, perhaps for the placement of furniture. Area (8) served as a
third node in the house, directing and concentrating traffic between the atrium and peristyle; it
had two columns in antis on its S side looking onto the peristyle, and a large opus sectile emblema
in the center of its pavement. A small storage nook was available in the NE corner. It is
conceivable that a large dinner party could have been carried out in area (8), or smaller
gatherings in the cenaculum above. However, given the traffic to which area (8) must have been
subject and the small size of the two parts of the cenaculum, as well as the numerous other dining
areas present in the house, area (8) or the cenaculum were probably not regular dining areas.
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