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

The majority of rooms in the house were arranged around three sides of peristyle (9), in
the center of which was a fountain and a DO of wooden couches. Two dining areas, DR•(18) and
DR (16) sandwiched a small room (17), which contained an altar and was perhaps a focus of
domestic cult (Figs. 5.69-5.70). The skeletons of seven youths were found huddled in DR•(18).
Service and storage (13, 14 15) rooms occupied the E side of the peristyle; a stairway wrapped
around the walls of KI (14) and led to an extensive cryptoporticus underneath the peristyle (Fig.
5.67-5.68). Rooms on the S side of the peristyle were found in poor condition due to the collapse
of the vaults below; another stairway in (12) led to the cryptoporticus, while two bedrooms or
sitting rooms (10, 11b) flanked DR◊(11a) on the W. The cryptoporticus, supplied with a bath, was
turned into a storage area after the damage of the earthquake. Amphorae for both wine and
garum were found in great quantity here, analogous to the reuse of the cryptoporticus in (I.6.2).
The underground rooms had a third point of access at #20, directly onto the covered Vicolo di
Paquio Proculo that followed the topography sloping down from N to S. This alley, with
arrangements for closure at either end, was a private passage used for the convenient movement
of people and goods into the house by means of the cryptoporticus.
There are competing assignations of families to this house, both based on inscriptions
found at the entrance of the house. Della Corte preferred P. Paquius Proculus, whose electoral
recommendations are painted on the front of the house. Spinazzola argued for C. Cuspius Pansa,
the subject of a laudatory distych in the entranceway. Neither is completely convincing.
References
Ehrhardt forthcoming; Jashemski 1993, 37; PPM I, 483-552; Sutherland 1990, 134-148;
Rediscovering Pompeii 1990, 178-179, #62-63; Strocka & Ehrhardt 1988; Strocka & Ehrhardt 1987;
PPP I, 45-53; CTP IIIA, 12-13; Laidlaw 1985, 64-65; Guida Laterza 1982, 111-112; Bastet & De Vos
1979, 112-114; Evans 1978, 186; Guida 1976, 208-210; Schefold 1957, 28-29; Della Corte 1954, 257-
260, #638-640; Spinazzola I, 297-314; Soprano 1950, 307, #30; Maiuri 1942a, 147; Maiuri NSc 1929,
386-391; Della Corte 1927, 26-30; Della Corte NSc 1911, 426-430.
Data (not including 12 underground spaces of the cryptoporticus that take up 232.7 m 2 ,
or the covered Vicolo di Paquio Proculo to the W taking up 190.1 m 2 )
A) Total area: 880.8 Nodes: 580.5 Connectors: 31.4 Static spaces: 281.0
B) Total # spaces: 29 # Nodes: 3 # Connectors: 5 # Static spaces: 17
C) Area, KI (14): 13.8 Area, DO (9): 17.7 Length, DO (9): 4.29 Width, DO (9): 4.13
Area, DR◊(11a): 19.9 Length, DR◊(11a): 4.71 Width, DR◊(11a): 4.22
Area, DR (16): 33.4 Length, DR (16): 7.88 Width, DR (16): 4.22
Area, DR•(18): 19.8 Length, DR•(18): 4.61 Width, DR•(18): 4.29
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